Der Engel des Todes
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: UPDATED JANUARY 12TH! Doom Reborn's plan must be stopped, but how? Where is their new hideout? And what is to be done about the others who have invaded the city?
1. The Prologue

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Der Engel des Todes**

**By LuckyLadybug**

**Notes: The YGO characters are not mine, the others (most notably, Alexander) and the story are, and sibling and friendship cuteness abound! This is the sequel to _Life After the Tears_, so not much will be understood unless you have read that. And for those who are wondering, the German title translates to "The Angel of Death." That will make sense soon.**

**Prologue**

_Floating, falling. . . . Over and over he tumbled through space, his dark hair flying out around him. He gazed off into the distance, vaguely curious, and wondered how long this would continue before he would reach his destination. He felt as if he had been traveling through this area for an eternity. Or perhaps he had been._

It's like a dream,_ he decided. _Or maybe what happened over the last three months was the dream. Maybe none of it was real._ But he knew that it was. He could pretend it had not happened, but that would not change the truth._

"_Why are you here?"_

_He frowned, looking around for the source of the voice. It sounded familiar to him, somehow, but for some reason he could not place it. It was as if some sort of veil had been laid over the part of his mind that would recall that. "Huh? What do you mean? It's not like I'm here by my choice." He frowned into space, unable to see where the speaker was._

"_No," the voice conceded, "you're not. And you're not supposed to be here, either. What about all the chaos you caused and have left behind you?"_

_He clenched a fist. Then it truly had not been a dream. Everything he remembered, even though it was shadowy and vague in his mind, had truly taken place. He had stolen souls for Doom Reborn, he had betrayed his friends, and he had died while trying to hurt them. The Orichalcos had obliterated his sanity, but for him that was not an excuse. He knew he needed to fix what had happened—he wanted to fix it—but he did not know how. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" he demanded. "I mean, I'm kinda dead here."_

"_Go back. Go back and fix the wrongs you have made." The voice left no room for argument. And without warning, he was being rushed through time and space once again, this time in the opposite direction._

_

* * *

_  
Yugi looked out at the sunset from the living room window, watching the last pink and orange glows fading from the city. His violet eyes, usually bright and innocent, were now flashing and serious. Sunsets would always make him think of what had happened at the Orichalcos temple. It had been yesterday when they had returned, late at night, and the emotional wounds were still fresh. Yugi could not stop thinking of how they had not been able to save Duke. The raven-haired boy had perished in the demolished temple, but before that he had been claimed by the ancient evil force itself. And no one had been able to help him.

The vertically-challenged boy clenched a fist tightly. He could not stand to remember what had taken place, and yet the memories refused to stay at bay. He knew that a change was coming over him, a strange change that he both loathed and welcomed. Failures like that one could not be options for the future. This could simply not happen again! He would make certain that it did not. There and then he vowed that he would become stronger, somehow. If Atemu had been there, then Yugi was certain that Duke would not have died. Atemu could have saved him even if all others had failed.

"I'm sorry, Duke," he said quietly. "I'm sorry you had to die because of this. I promise, we'll take down Doom Reborn . . . for you. At least I can do that much!"

He knew he was not talking exactly like himself. And for some odd reason he remembered when Joey had told him yesterday that he had sounded like Atemu when he had told Joey that they should not pass judgement on Duke without knowing the full story behind his odd behavior. _I'm not like you, Atemu,_ he thought sadly, _but I can try. I have to do something so that no one else will have to suffer like Duke did. I have to find a way to bring Doom Reborn down!_

A couple of tears of frustration slipped from his eyes as he continued to stand there, deep in thought. Taking down Doom Reborn would be hard. But he had to find a way to accomplish it. And he had to do it alone. He did not want to put any of his friends at risk again. Several people had gotten hurt at the island, in addition to those who had died. Yugi knew that the wounded easily could have been numbered among the dead.

* * *

Dartz shook his head slowly, watching as the strange creature curled up on the couch in Dartz's bedroom to sleep. Alexander spread his wings out for a brief moment, then relaxed as he carefully laid them over himself. He was especially cautious with his angel wing, due to its serious injuries. Not only had the appendage been mysteriously torn, but the bone had been shattered in that spot as well. Dartz had managed to mend things as best as he could, clipping away the nearby feathers and then sewing the wing together. When he had wrapped it, he had placed a splint in as well, in order to help the bone as it healed. He had to admit that he did not know if the creature would be able to fly again. The bone might grow together in a disfigured way, twisting the wing and preventing it from helping Alexander to become airborne. 

When Dartz had asked Alexander how he had gotten such injuries, the strange young man had responded that he had been fighting the Leviathan in its realm. "I was rejected by it, because I'm only part of a soul," he had proclaimed. "Then it tried to destroy me out of disgust, so I began fighting for my life . . . and his." Dartz had tried to demand what Alexander meant by that, and who the "he" was that Alexander continually referred to, but the creature had only given him the cryptic answer of, "I love him. I can't let myself be destroyed while he lives . . . or he won't be complete. He'll always be suffering, even though he won't understand why." Dartz had finally given up on trying to make sense out of everything, at least for the time being. After both Alexander and he himself had rested, then he would question the being again.

"He's such an odd bit of matter," he mused to himself, watching as Alexander slept on his stomach. "Who is he really? _What_ is he? And why does he look so familiar to me?" He studied the fiery red hair as it fell limply around his face. "He almost looks like one of my former warriors . . . as a child. . . ." He paused, musing on this before shifting to a different question.

_Why did I help him? He's such a pathetic, pitiful creature, hardly worth my time. And yet I bothered to fix his wing. Now it looks as though he's taking up residence here._ The man frowned, sidestepping the bloodstains on the carpet. _He certainly doesn't seem to be working with Doom Reborn in any way. I thought he might be their pet, but it appears that I was wrong._

A soft knock came at the door. "Father? Can I come in?" came Chris's soft voice.

Dartz looked up, smiling a bit. "Yes. Go ahead," he replied.

Idly he brushed several tangled locks of turquoise hair away from his face. He had not had a chance to rest at all since surviving the temple's collapse and retrieving Alexander. He was exhausted, and wanted to have a relaxing shower before drifting into a deep sleep, but he would be happy to see his daughter first. It still seemed almost like a dream, that he had her and Ironheart back with him. But still, he did wish for Phiona as well and always wondered if she was alright.

She could be almost anywhere, though the modern world would not seem strange to her. She had witnessed Atlantis's modern age, which had been even more advanced. Dartz was not worried about how she would react to the technology, but he did wonder if she had gotten into trouble. Perhaps she had ended up in a part of the world that was not relatively peaceful. He frowned, not liking that thought.

The door opened slowly and Chris wandered in. She was about to speak when she spotted the blood on the carpet. In alarm she looked up at Dartz and then her eyes widened upon seeing the unusual creature slumbering on the couch. "Father, what is this?" she asked in confusion. "What have you brought with you? And what happened to you?" She bit her lip, admittedly concerned. She was not certain how stable Dartz's mind was, since he had been troubled by angry lost souls for some time. But he seemed at peace now, so she supposed she had to hope that his mission had been a success. She had been asleep when he had finally returned home, but Ironheart had been awake, and he had informed Chris of Dartz's return as soon as she had woken up. Ironheart, however, had mentioned nothing of Dartz bringing back some sort of mutant creature.

"It's a wounded sparrow that has fallen from its roost," Dartz answered cryptically, crossing his arms. "I found him at the ruins of the Orichalcos temple. And I am fine." He smiled slightly at her concern. "Though I did have several harrowing experiences along the way. . . ."

Chris sighed and then looked at Alexander, taking note of the bandages around part of the strange being's angel wing. Blinking in surprise, she moved forward and reached out, touching the feathers that were not covered by the gauze. "Where did he come from?" she exclaimed, petting the wing gently. It felt so soft to the touch, as a bird's wing would, and she was intrigued—though the sight of the demon wing made her uneasy.

"He fell from above," Dartz told her. "He's been saying perplexing things ever since. Perhaps if we allow him a good night's sleep, he will make more sense in the morning."

Chris swallowed. "Is he going to stay here?" she asked apprehensively. If he was friendly, she would not mind—but was he? She supposed she would have to wait to find out.

"I sincerely hope not," Dartz muttered.

Now Chris came over to him, hugging him firmly. "I'm glad you're back, Father," she said softly with a smile. "I've been worried . . . and I've missed you."

He smiled back, returning the hug. Alexander mumbled in the background.

* * *

"_Alister . . . let me help you. Let me kill you!"_

Alister's eyes flew open and he sat right up in bed, breathing heavily. He struggled to calm down, gripping the quilt as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. He had taken to sleeping with a nightlight on some years back. During the war, he had spent too many nights in complete darkness. He did not care for the dark now because of that. It brought back too many painful memories.

Now he ran his hands through his crimson bangs. "Who is that?" he muttered to himself. "I know I never heard him before, but now he's started coming into my dreams." And then Alister realized that it was the same voice he had heard in that dream from the other night, where a strange, winged creature had been trapped in a bubble and had been panicked.

Slowly he got up and quietly opened the door of his room, looking out into the hallway. Everything was quiet. Raphael and Valon both seemed to still be asleep, which was good. They needed their rest. Their experiences over the past couple of days had been so strange and exhausting. And Valon still did not have his memories back. He had been involved in a motorcycle accident two months before and had sustained amnesia from that. Alister had found him two nights ago and had finally convinced him to return with him to see if anything seemed familiar to him. And though Valon had ended up remembering some very unpleasant things—such as Alister's possession by the Orichalcos—he had finally come to trust Alister and Raphael and was going to stay with them again. Alister supposed that was the most important thing. Valon could recall everything else later.

Suddenly realizing that something was rubbing repeatedly against him, Alister looked down to see Liu winding between his legs and purring blissfully. Amused, he finally reached down and picked up the loving cat. She snuggled in approval, nuzzling him. It certainly made sense that Raphael doted on the furry Ragdoll. Even Valon, who was not much of an animal lover, was fond of the feline.

"Miruko would have loved you," Alister said quietly, walking downstairs and to the kitchen with Liu in his arms. She continued to purr.

He had avoided her at first, because of how she reminded him of the kitten that Miruko had loved and lost. But Liu had been insistent on giving love to Alister as well as the other two, and he had finally consented. She was the kind of cat that managed to worm her way into almost any heart, no matter how closed-off and closed.

_Just like Raphael and Valon did,_ Alister supposed, sitting down at the table to think. _ My heart was dead, but they managed to revive it. And . . . having people to care about again feels good. I didn't realize how lonely I really was before until I realized how much those two mean to me._

Liu nuzzled Alister again and he was startled back to the present. He shook his head and grunted, petting her again as he wondered about the voice once more.

* * *

Helmos sighed, picking through the rubble of the Orichalcos temple. Timaeus had insisted that they needed to keep looking for the bodies of those who had been buried in the collapse, but Helmos was getting frustrated. They had found nothing, and they had been looking for hours—having started immediately after the plane had left the previous night. They had searched until it had gotten too dark to continue and then they had waited until morning. The entire day had been spent digging through the rubble and moving it out of the way. Now this day had come to a close as well. Helmos did not think they would ever find anything. 

"I think we should call it quits," he declared, stabbing the ground with his sword. "We've been all over the place by now, and there's nothing!"

Critias grunted as he approached. "You stand corrected—I just found something," he announced.

Helmos stared at him and then leaped up. "What!"

The brunette warrior led his comrade over to a spot where they had been digging. It was where the stairs had been, and it seemed that they had caved in. Critias went over to the hole and looked in at Timaeus, who had climbed in after it had been revealed. "Have you found anything yet?" he asked.

Timaeus nodded and straightened up. In his arms he held a limp, battered body. "It's the boy who was consumed by the Orichalcos," he said soberly, frowning in confusion. "There must have been a pocket of air reaching him. He's breathing very faintly." What he did not know was that Duke truly had died and then had been sent back, though Timaeus's conclusion about the air pocket was correct. Without it, Duke could not have survived at all, even after being sent back.

Helmos was astounded. "We should get help for him right now!" he exclaimed.

Timaeus nodded. "I will take him to a hospital. The two of you should stay here and keep looking for Vivalene's and Dartz's bodies."

Helmos looked frustrated. "They probably both died," he retorted.

"Not if the Orichalcos protected them," Critias mused. Timaeus concurred.

* * *

All of these events took place in the late summer, in September. The next several months, until just after Thanksgiving in November, passed by in relative peace—though the Duel Monsters remained. People were uneasy, not knowing when the beasts would attack again. Yugi and his friends tried to heal from the catastrophe they had witnessed, but Yugi remained angry at himself and was coming off as forcefully over-protective toward his friends. Téa was worried about him. She knew that he was behaving that way because he wanted to make certain that what had happened to Duke would not happen to anyone else. But she also knew that he could not prevent it. 

Timaeus, Critias, and Helmos were taking care of Duke, who was suffering the after-effects of being poisoned by the Orichalcos for three months. In addition, the Legendary Knights felt that the boy should lay low for a while, until he completely recovered and until they knew what Doom Reborn was planning next.

Alexander was still healing—and still living with Dartz. He got along well with Chris, though Ironheart found him quite odd and Dartz was annoyed and uncomfortable with the almost constant cuddling he received. The strange creature seemed to be a child in a man's body, and considered Dartz to be a father figure.

The redhead was very unusual and had a perplexing view of the world. He considered death a beautiful thing and felt that it was his highest purpose in life to fulfill what he believed was a deathwish from someone he loved. He also insisted that he loved what Alister Mackenzie hated and hated what he loved. But Dartz found that this made little sense. Alister certainly would not hate Chris, and yet Alexander adored her.

"Why don't you ever speak sensibly?" Dartz frowned one evening as he looked over the latest report from the bank accounts that he had held since the time of the original Doom organization. He had been secretly buying shares of the new Paradius company, determined to get it back in his control. Alexander was curled up at his feet, hugging the man's legs.

"Speak sensibly?" the boy repeated, blinking up at him. "But I do. . . ."

Dartz sighed. "Only you can understand yourself," he retorted. "No one else can." He clicked out of the bank's website and was greeted by several popup windows. He muttered in annoyance. Modern technology could be such an irritation sometimes. It had helped to be the downfall of Atlantis. Dartz was certain that sooner or later, the present-day civilizations would be destroyed as well. He saw in so many of the people the behavior of his own subjects from that ancient kingdom.

Alexander perked up, looking at one of the popup windows that had a German phrase on it. "What does that mean?" he asked curiously.

The Atlantean gave it a cursory glance before closing it out. "Oh, I don't know," he said with another sigh. "The Death Angel . . . or the Angel of Death . . . something such as that. It's advertising some famous author's new book."

Alexander thought about this. "Angel . . . of death?" he repeated, and smiled blissfully. That was what he would be. He would make Alister happy by granting him death. After all, that was why he had been created—to make Alister happy.


	2. The Angel

**Notes: The inspiration behind Alexander's character is the mysterious and twisted Nova from season 2 of _Magic Knight Rayearth._ However, while Alexander is similar in some ways, in others he is vastly different. And thanks to DarkSpellmaster for the idea about the duel disks!**

**

* * *

Chapter One**

Siegfried von Schroider closed his eyes and leaned back in the spa, letting his light pink hair sweep down around his shoulders. The months since he had been summoned to Domino City to determine what to do about the gaming companies being blamed for the Duel Monster infestation had passed by slowly and calmly, much to his relief. Nothing more had been seen of Doom Reborn nor the absurd green beams in the sky, and the German desperately hoped that things would stay that way. Unfortunately, Pegasus was certain that Doom Reborn was merely laying in wait for the perfect time to unleash a much deadlier plan. What had happened back in September had just been the prelude.

And Siegfried knew that was likely true. _Doom Reborn must be preparing for their main performance following the opening act,_ he mused silently. _They tantalized us with the events in September and then vanished to leave us in suspense._ He, for one, was not pleased by this. Whatever their "main performance" would be, it undoubtedly would not be pleasant—and it would most likely end up involving all of them, whether or not they wanted it to.

He looked up as the shadow of his butler Ludwig fell across him. "What is it?" he asked calmly.

Ludwig sighed. "You have a telephone call, Meister Siegfried," he announced.

"Is it important?" Siegfried wanted to know. He supposed he should not find it surprising, but many strange people had somehow gotten hold of his private telephone number. Occasionally even a telemarketer or a reporter leaked through, which he was never all that thrilled about.

"I would assume so," Ludwig replied. "It's Pegasus. . . ."

Siegfried raised an eyebrow and then slowly stood up, reaching for the white bathrobe to the side of the spa. "So he did not tell you what he wanted?" he queried as he pulled it on and stepped across the tiles to the door, his hair dripping water as he went. Pegasus had not called for a while now, though he did tend to do so every now and then when he was bored and wanted to chat, or when something actually went amiss that he felt Siegfried should know about.

He was always such a difficult person to figure out. Siegfried was never certain whether the older businessman honestly liked him at all or if it was just an act, though he assumed it was the latter. After all, one could never trust anyone in business. Many of the most successful and smart ones, such as Pegasus and Siegfried, knew how to turn on the charm around their associates and potential clients. Siegfried had determined to never be foolish enough to believe that anyone involved in business honestly cared about him or Leonhard. Such trust would only result in disaster later on.

"No, Meister Siegfried," Ludwig replied, following him out. "He just said hello and asked for you." Of course, as was Pegasus's way, he had teased Ludwig for a moment—asking if Siegfried was still paying him well enough and such—but the butler did not feel the need to say that. Siegfried would likely assume it to be the case anyway. Both of them were quite familiar with the other eccentric businessman's ways.

"Danke shon, Ludwig," Siegfried answered as he went into his home office and picked up the telephone receiver.

"Guten tag, Pegasus," he greeted, easing himself into the chair at his desk.

"Sieggy-boy! Why, it's been so long since we've spoke." Pegasus smirked to himself from where he was sitting at his dining table in his Domino City cabin, drinking a goblet of his favorite red wine and looking over a recent newspaper. "I was beginning to wonder if the rumors of your demise really were true, after all." The article he was looking at told of an experience from last week, when a vicious Red-Eyes Black Dragon had attacked the von Schroider limousine and torn open the roof, reportedly torching the vehicle and burning all inside without hope of escape.

"My apologies, the telephone lines have been down in this area for days," Siegfried replied, brushing a damp piece of his hair back over his shoulder and ignoring the disliked nickname that Pegasus had bestowed upon him. "They were repaired only last night." He smirked. "But obviously, the reports of my death were highly exaggerated." He had barely managed to flee from the car before the dragon had sent it up in flames, and he was grateful that Leonhard had been safely at home at the time.

"Of course, of course," Pegasus smiled, "unless I'm actually talking to your ghost—or your doppelganger."

Siegfried raised an eyebrow. "Doppelganger, you say?" He could not recall Pegasus ever mentioning doppelgangers unless he was talking about the Duel Monsters card of the same name, so the phrase had caught his interest—just as Pegasus had wanted. "But a doppelganger is a ghostly double of a living person. If I had left mortality behind, I doubt any possible doppelganger of mine would remain."

Pegasus snapped his fingers in delight. "Then you do know what it means!" he said in mock excitement.

"Why the sudden interest in doppelgangers?" Siegfried asked, picking up a rose he had left on the desk earlier that day. "I was under the impression that I was the one fascinated by mythological beings, while you focused on going through your second childhood." Pegasus's obsession with cartoons amused Siegfried, though he had never understood the attraction. He had been raised in a high-class society environment, and for the most part, he enjoyed the entertainment it had to offer. Being taken as a child by his mother to the opera, he had first discovered Valkyries via Wagner's masterpiece _Der Ring des Nebilungen_. He had carried mixed feelings about the shallow-seeming "hero" of the story who bore his name, but the Valkyries had left a lasting impression and fascination that had started his interest in Norse mythology.

Pegasus laughed at Siegfried's description. "Yes, yes, I know," he said amiably, "but I discovered something fascinating. Just a short while ago, only a couple of hours or so, I saw a winged creature flying happily over my property! This same being has approached several other times over the past few days, and this time I was lucky enough to take a picture of it when it hovered lower in the air." Now he pulled out a manilla envelope and opened it, extracting the photograph and admiring it.

"And what does this have to do with me?" Siegfried asked, growing bored with the conversation. "Surely you don't believe it truly was my doppelganger. It was most likely a Duel Monster of some kind."

"Oh no!" Pegasus said emphatically. "It wasn't a Duel Monster, and it didn't look like you either, Sieggy-boy. Actually, it frighteningly resembles that redhead you met in September—Alister Mackenzie." He studied the picture again. "Only his hair is hanging down, fluffy, in a boy's style. I can't see his eye color, but he's Alister's same approximate height and weight. And here's the really interesting part—he has one angel wing and one demon wing."

Siegfried leaned forward over the desk. "Do you believe it is a new threat?" he asked.

"I really couldn't say," Pegasus mused, "but I believe it's coming from a small mansion secluded higher up in the canyons. I saw it heading in that direction."

Now Siegfried set the rose down, still not certain why he was being told of this strangeness. "Then why not investigate?" he asked calmly. "I certainly know nothing of this creature, but if it is a doppelganger it seems it would be with Alister Mackenzie. Also, seeing such a being is a very rare event. It seems odd that you would have several sightings all at once."

"Why, what wonderful advice!" Pegasus smiled, though he certainly had been planning to investigate all along. "I knew it wouldn't be a mistake to call you about this, Siegfried. I'll have this solved in no time at all!" And then he paused, finally growing serious again. "Anyway, there is a chance that this creature is from Doom Reborn. At one point, I noticed it sending turquoise blasts into the air, almost as if it was practicing for something. It really did look alarmingly similar to the Orichalcos light. Keep your brother safe, Siegfried, and of course you stay safe yourself."

Siegfried frowned deeply at this. "If it was sent by Doom Reborn, then investigating it might not be safe," he thought aloud, wondering if it was a trap.

"Oh yes, I know, but it must be done." Pegasus replaced the photo in the envelope and stood up. "I will be sure to let you know what I find out." With that they exchanged their goodbyes. Pegasus told Kemo to go investigate the mansion on the hill, while Siegfried pondered over what this event could mean. It did not make sense to him.

* * *

A brunette woman stood at a window in a building that, as of yet, still was not entirely finished. Her once-bright eyes were now clouded over and filled with sadness. Her beautiful light brown hair, sometimes pulled back in a long ponytail, was now hanging freely down her back and escaping over her shoulders. The symbol of the Orichalcos was not upon her forehead, but instead on the pendant she wore around her neck. It was the same pendant that Dartz had worn before her. 

_There is so much wickedness in this world,_ she thought silently to herself. There was no one for her to speak with. She kept herself apart from her warriors, leaving their training up to other commanders serving under her. The Doom that she had reborn was not the same organization that the strange and mysterious Dartz had overseen. She felt that the leadership position was too heavy for one person alone to carry, and so she had delegated.

The idea of purifying the world sounded so delicious to her. She could not fathom the immense evils she had witnessed. A wanderer since she could remember, she had passed through several areas where there had been so much devastation and suffering that her kind heart had not been able to bear it. She had witnessed innocent people being massacred, even the children. She had seen the uttermost repulsive aspects of human nature, again and again until she had felt she would go mad.

When she had looked to find some sort of meaning, she had found the remnants of the original Doom, waiting and wanting to be united under a new leader. She had learned of their failed cause and the meaning behind it, and then she had taken on the responsibilities and position of the leader. She would lead the world to its new Paradise. Dartz had abandoned his ideals in the end, but she would not.

Sometimes she feared the Orichalcos's power. It seemed as though it would worm its way into her mind and soul until she believed that nothing was more important than completing her mission. This frightened her because there were times when she was certain she had done terrible things, but she could not recall exactly what they been or why she had done them.

And there was times when she doubted the mission itself. Was it not hypocritical, she occasionally wondered, to take people's souls in order to bring about the purification of the world? Was she not committing wicked acts herself, in the name of justice? But those people were evil anyway. The Orichalcos had proved them to be. So should they not be eliminated before they could hurt the innocent?

It was all so confusing to her. Perhaps there was not any one "right" answer to her questions. But in any case, Doom Reborn's next plan was almost ready to go. She just needed one final key ingredient for it to work. And she knew that several of her agents were already preparing it.

* * *

In another part of the world, Duke watched out of another window in boredom. His raven hair was pulled back in the trademark ponytail, and once again he had the red and black headband around his forehead. He was tired of playing dead. For reasons of precaution, he had not even been able to let his friends know that he was still alive. _Maybe they won't want to see me anyway,_ he thought. _I did some really horrible things._

But he knew it had not been his fault. Doom Reborn's gang had deliberately beaten him nigh to death so that the Orichalcos would be able to take over with no resistance. He still was not certain how they had gotten his body away. Perhaps they had switched his body with something (or someone else) before the burial. That was the most logical idea, though he supposed that they also could have snuck into the cemetery that night and dug up his body. He shivered, disturbed.

Suddenly hearing someone approaching the doorway, the boy started and turned to see Critias there.

The warrior just gave him a deadpan look. "You don't look happy," he observed in a matter-of-fact tone.

Duke frowned. "Well, I'm not," he retorted, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. "We don't know when Doom Reborn might attack again. It could be ages from now. I mean, they've been quiet for over two months. And my friends all think I'm dead. They've probably been blaming themselves since the time I was beaten up. The last thing I wanted to do was come back to life as a possessed lunatic." He glared down at the throw on the couch. "I could've killed all of them!"

"You didn't." Critias half-turned, crossing his arms. "And the very fact that Doom Reborn hasn't done anything for this amount of time probably means they're getting ready to unleash something drastic. I don't think they're going to let the year slip by without trying again." His eyes narrowed. He knew that for many humans, this was a season of celebration and good will. And he would not put it past Doom Reborn to decide it was the perfect time to attack.

Duke clenched a fist. "I know stuff about these guys," he protested. "I need to warn Yugi and the others about what they're capable of."

"They know enough," Critias said flatly. "They know that Doom Reborn isn't above taking people to the brink of death to get them under the Orichalcos's control. That's plenty. Basically, anything goes with them."

Duke was not pleased or satisfied. "I know some specific things about some of the stuff they want to do," he objected. "How long do you and your pals plan to keep me here?" He stood up slowly and carefully, testing his equilibrium. "I've been getting better." Finding that he seemed to be able to stand without a problem, he began walking around the room—though he did so with a slight limp.

"Yes, and Doom Reborn might decide to try to take you off again," Critias retorted. "I don't think it's safe." With that he made a move to leave the room. He knew Duke was unhappy about remaining here, but he felt that for now the boy would have to get used to it. Timaeus was certain that something terrible was just on the horizon, and Critias was certain that when it burst into being, all Hades would break loose—quite possibly literally. Doom Reborn was tampering with things beyond its understanding. And the last thing they needed would be to have Duke taken by the organization again.

Critias wondered, as did Duke himself, whether Yugi and the others would even trust the former, unwilling servant of the Orichalcos. Helmos was confident that Duke's friends would stand by him, but Critias was not as certain. Some of them had doubted that Duke had not accepted the Orichalcos by choice. Critias did not know whether they had come to realize the truth or not.

* * *

Raphael leaned back in the chair with a well-read copy of Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_, sighing to himself. The house was quiet tonight. Alister had gone to the group home to visit the children, and Valon was out riding his motorcycle around the city. He had been going out more frequently as of late, wanting to enjoy it as much as he could before snow and ice made it impossible to ride the bike for the winter. 

Raphael wondered what Valon would do when that happened. He had taken a job delivering pizzas, and used his motorcycle as the delivery vehicle since he did not have a driver's license yet. Raphael hoped that Valon would be able to get one before long, but he was not even certain if the boy could since they did not know his true age nor his surname. Valon had said that he would never disgrace himself by taking on the current alias of his criminal parents, and Raphael did not blame him for that.

The Australian's memories had been returning slowly but surely. That was an immense relief for all three of them. Valon was now more like the cheerful, carefree teenager Raphael and Alister remembered, rather than the angry and confused amnesiac.

But Raphael was worried about Alister. The quiet—yet blunt—and reserved redhead had grown even more distant of late and always seemed to look tired. Raphael wondered if Alister was getting good sleep at all. Sometimes in the night he would hear the younger man getting up and wandering downstairs, but he allowed Alister to have his time alone. However, he knew that if Alister kept not being able to sleep well, it would affect his health. He did intend to approach him about it if it continued.

Liu stretched out on the arm of the chair, purring loudly and half-closing her eyes in pure contentment. Raphael was terribly amused. It seemed that his cat was always happy, which was a good thing. It would seem depressing if she was as aloof as her owners often were. The fact that she always seemed blissful seemed to make it a bit easier for Raphael to relax after a long day.

Suddenly the feline perked up, blinking and staring forward as if she knew something was about to happen. Raphael frowned at her questioningly just as the lights went out. The blonde muttered to himself in annoyance and was about to get up for a flashlight when he heard Liu make a soft mew in an apparent greeting.

"Eh?" Raphael squinted, now making out a strange silhouette standing before him. It looked about Alister's size, but two wings were protruding from its back—if Raphael was being able to see correctly. Suspiciously the man laid his book aside, ready to bolt up. "Who's there?"

"Hi!" a perky, yet soft, voice answered. Raphael heard Liu leap down and then saw her rub against the long legs, purring in delight. Knowing that she seemed to greet everyone the same way, Raphael did not find this particularly strange. What he did find strange was the entity's presence. He could see it bending down and picking up Liu, stroking her soft fur.

"Who are you?" Raphael demanded, standing up now as well and reaching for his cat. "How did you get in?" He felt a soft, feathered wing brush against his arm as Liu was handed back to him.

"I just came," the creature answered, grinning and showing his fanged teeth. "I'm the Angel of Death!"

Raphael could only stare in disbelief. "What?" he said then, as Liu batted a feather that had come loose from the right wing. "Is this some kind of a gag? Because if it is, I don't think it's funny."

Alexander shook his head. "It's not a gag," he replied. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm here to fulfill what Alister wants. That's my whole purpose in life. Once I've completed it, I'll die." Of course, when Alister died, Alexander would as well. And since the creature believed that killing Alister was the way to make him happy, he did not care that he would perish along with the gray-eyed man. Sacrifices had to be made. And Alexander was certain that Raphael and Valon would be happy for Alister, if they knew that he was going to be happy by dying. That was why he had come to tell Raphael of what he intended to do.

Raphael was only becoming all the more confused, and suspicious as well. "What are you talking about?" he growled, thinking that none of it made sense. Was this some bizarre stalker, perhaps from Doom Reborn? Or was it some kind of a Duel Monster? The blue-eyed man felt frustrated and wished that he could better see what the entity in front of him looked like.

"I'm going to kill him, of course." Alexander stepped into the light from the moon outside, and Raphael could not hold back a gasp as he took in the shocking resemblance to his friend—and the alarming statement. Again he was stunned.

"You just said you were going to fulfill what Alister wants!" Raphael said indignantly.

Alexander blinked at him. "But don't you know? Alister wants to die."

Raphael swallowed hard, many things going through his mind at that moment. He did not want to believe this . . . this whatever it was. And yet he knew that Alister had felt suicidal in the past. Was it at all conceivable that such feelings were returning? He thought back to Alister's sleeplessness. Could that be why he had not been able to sleep—because he was longing to die? The blonde growled, trying to push such thoughts out of his head. He could not believe such nonsense, and especially not coming from such a strange being that he had never seen before. Still, he could not deny that the resemblance to Alister was very unsettling. That was something he needed to find out the meaning behind.

"That's not true!" he snapped finally, his eyes narrowed. "Alister doesn't want to die."

"But he does," Alexander said softly, tilting his head to the side. "I know he does. I felt it . . . I felt his pain, his agony, his self-hatred. He wants to die, and I'm here to make sure he does." He smiled, looking almost childlike. "I love him, you know. I hate what he loves and I love what he hates. He hates himself, so I love him."

Raphael was highly disturbed by this point. Again he glared at the creature. "What are you?" he whispered. "What makes you think you know what he wants?"

"Because," Alexander replied just before he vanished, "I am him."

The lights flickered back on. Raphael stared. The thing was gone. In fact, there was no trace of it anywhere, and the blonde was sorely tempted to wonder if the encounter had all been a terrible, fascinating, realistic dream.

But then he saw Liu on the floor, playing with a large white feather. "The Angel of Death" had truly been there. That had not been a dream. And Raphael was left to wonder how much truth, if any, there was to what had been said. Alexander's last, cryptic remark haunted and perplexed the blonde man. And it was impossible. Alexander could have only meant that he was Alister in a figurative sense.

What was equally puzzling were the two wings. What did they mean? Why did the creature have them? Maybe, if Raphael could figure out what kind of being it was, that would help answer the wing question.

The man groaned, rubbing his forehead. When Alister did return, they would have a lot to discuss.

He did not know that there was something else they needed to worry about. But uptown, many of Seto Kaiba's "Solid Vision" holographic duel disks had been purloined. Doom Reborn's next treacherous plan was about to come forth.


	3. The Secretary

**Chapter Two**

Marik Ishtar paced around near the small pond in his family's extensive backyard. Muttering to himself, he pulled his leather jacket closer around him and threw a small stone into the water. _I'd forgotten how cold it is here, _he thought to himself. _Being in Egypt again spoiled me._

And yet inspite of the frosty weather he knew that he would rather be in Domino City than Egypt. In Egypt there were far too many bad memories. He associated it with being trapped, unable to have freedom, and suffering immense emotional and physical pain. He had ripped apart their family when he had set out on his mission of revenge against Atemu. He and Rishid had looked for the elusive Pharaoh all over Egypt before finding him far away in Domino City. That place was more of what he considered a symbol of release. Battle City was another hated time in his memories, but it had also been the beginning of what had led to his change of heart.

_And now Ishizu thinks that something else is about to go wrong. Well, that's just wonderful! I was wondering how long the peace would last. We never have it easy, do we?_

He glared out across the small pond, watching the clouds forming near the mountains. They would be having a storm before too long. Then Domino City would most likely be adorned in white, and Marik would be determined to stay inside. _I suppose it's too much to hope for, that the Duel Monsters will hate the weather and go home. They probably feel that they haven't done enough damage yet._

A shadow fell over him and he looked up, only to see nothing. Frowning, he turned to go inside. "So now I'm seeing things," he said dryly, not caring that he was talking to himself. "Oh joy."

But a large white feather floated down into his path. Marik blinked in surprise as he reached to pick it up. He had not been hallucinating after all.

Again he looked up into the sky, trying to see what sort of bird—or Duel Monster—belonged to the shadow, but now he could see nothing. It had flown off once more. He supposed he should not be surprised. Shaking his head, he headed inside to the warmth of the fireplace.

* * *

Alister was quite displeased when he arrived home and was told of the bizarre creature that had been visiting Raphael. He was quite disturbed as well, but he could provide no answers—save to mention the dream of seeing a winged creature trapped in a bubble. He remained silent about the dream-memory of hearing that same creature's voice calling to him during the penalty game with Raphael and Valon. That had been a painful time for all three of them, and he knew Raphael especially did not like thinking of the past. He preferred to focus on the future, while Valon's specialty was the present. Alister did not want to bring up memories of the duel, and he doubted that Raphael would be any less confused than he was, so it seemed pointless. 

"You don't have any idea what that thing could've been?" Raphael frowned after they debated over what the bubble could have meant.

Alister shrugged. "No, I really don't," he replied, and then frowned. "Did you say that it said it was me?" To his memory came the unseen being's words from the dream-memory. _"I live in your heart."_ What did that mean? How could something have been living in his heart? It did not make any sense. But he supposed that could explain the visitor's remark to Raphael. If it lived in his heart, would that not make it a part of him?

And yet if that was the case, then it seemed that Alister would feel as though he was not complete now. But he felt perfectly complete. He did not feel that part of his soul was missing—at least, not any more than what he had always felt since his brother's death. None of this seemed logical. The being existing at all was not logical.

It also did not make sense that Alister had been spared from the Orichalcos's wrath at the end of the penalty game. He had always assumed that it had been because he had not possessed the actual Seal of Orichalcos card, but the more he thought about it, the less plausible that sounded. The Orichalcos had been there, and its power had been very real. Alister had claimed that it would not take someone's soul, but that instead it would kill whoever lost. But it had done neither. Why was that? It went against everything Alister had been taught and had come to know about the ancient force. Raphael and Valon had always been content to accept it as a miracle and to not question it, but Alister sometimes found that he did. He wondered if there was something more to what had happened, though he did not know what that would be.

Raphael's voice brought Alister back to the present. "Yeah," he said with a nod, "that's what it said right before it disappeared—that it was you and that's how it knew what you wanted." He sighed, crossing his arms. "I guess it must have been a 'he,' if it even has a gender at all." It all still confused him, and he ran over the creature's words for the umpteenth time in his mind, without coming to any solutions.

Alister grunted. "I guess," he agreed. "How did Liu react?"

Raphael shook his head. "She wasn't bothered at all. She went right up to him and purred. But that's normal for her." He ran a hand through his hair. He hoped that Liu would sense dangerous people, as many cats seem to, but her overly friendly and docile personality often made Raphael wonder. Liu might innocently think that everyone was a friend.

"Heh." Alister crossed the room and started to sit down in a chair, when he noticed the large white feather half-stuck in the cushion. Raising an eyebrow, he pulled it out and studied it. Liu made a happy sound and leaped onto the chair's arm, reaching to bat the downy substance. Alister held it out of her grasp while he examined it, but soon found nothing especially striking about it and gave it to Liu to play with. "I don't get it," the redhead said flatly.

"Welcome to the club," Raphael muttered.

The blonde ran a hand through his hair. He knew he needed to ask Alister if what the creature had claimed was actually true, but he still hesitated. It might annoy Alister to be asked if he still wanted to die. After all, the redhead had struggled to stay with his friends through whatever life-threatening experiences happened. For Raphael to suddenly inquire if the younger man wanted to die anyway might seem to be an insult.

And on the other hand, what if it was true? Would Alister even tell him? If he did, how would Raphael deal with it? How would he be able to offer comfort and help to one who was as his brother? Raphael would have liked to have fervently prayed that this would not be the case, but he knew that praying would not change what was. If Alister still wanted to die, just praying for it not to be so would not alter feelings that had lain in his heart for years.

Raphael finally growled to himself, knowing that he had to ask Alister no matter what the answer would be—or what Alister would think of him for asking. "That thing was mistaken, wasn't it?" he spoke quietly in the lingering silence.

The stillness that followed was so profound that it was deafening. It could have been minutes or even seconds, but Raphael grew more concerned the longer that Alister did not respond. The redhead was turned away from him, gazing out the window. His friend narrowed his eyes, watching him until at last he heard him speak.

"Of course."

Alister turned slowly to face Raphael. There was not a lie in his gray eyes. And Raphael relaxed inwardly. Alister wanted to live.

* * *

Dartz looked up boredly as Alexander teleported into the room. The creature had a blissful expression, but Dartz had found that it did not take much to make his self-appointed son happy, so the Atlantean did not know whether something momentous had occurred or not. He really had other things to worry about. 

Those at the Paradius company were catching on to the fact that a mysterious person had been buying up stocks. Dartz assumed it would not be much longer before they would track him down. He still did not have enough shares to again claim the company as his own, though he had been certain that regaining Paradius would not be as simple as that. There would be a fight, and Dartz was ready for it. He was not afraid of Doom Reborn. They should be the ones afraid, but alas, they did not know how the Orichalcos was manipulating all of them. Dartz knew, but they would not listen to him.

"Hi!" Alexander chirped now, immediately glomping Dartz with gusto. The Atlantean was completely caught off guard.

"What on earth are you so cheerful about?" the man frowned, tensing at the embrace. Alexander looked to be twenty years old, even though his mental age was obviously quite a bit younger. And Dartz found it quite uncomfortable to be enthusiastically hugged by what appeared to be an adult male that was of no relation to him at all.

"I met his friend," Alexander said proudly.

"Oh how wonderful," Dartz remarked dryly, a hint of sarcasm to his voice. He looked at the being, somewhat baffled by his delight. "But I thought you hated his friends?"

Alexander pulled back, nodding vigorously. "I do!" he exclaimed, sitting on the floor and laying his head against Dartz's knee. "I hate them both very much, because he loves them. But that's why I was happy to meet his friend, because his friend is special to him. I should meet everyone who's special to him. And I wanted to be sure to let his friend know that I'm planning to kill Alister." He blinked up at Dartz, who only looked more puzzled than before. "I mean, wouldn't he want to know that I'm going to make Alister happy?"

Dartz just shook his head slowly. He was never certain what to tell the boy when he spoke about the subject of his "mission." The first time Alexander had told Dartz that he was going to kill Alister in order to fulfill the gray-eyed man's deathwish, Dartz had been stunned. He had tried to find out why Alexander believed that Alister wanted to die, but he only received a strange, vague answer in reply that he could not decipher. If anything, Dartz was more confused by the creature now than when they had first met. The only things he was truly certain of were that Alexander was innocently sincere and that he honestly wanted to help Alister. Beyond that, he could make sense of hardly anything that the redhead said.

Alexander snuggled, not seeming bothered by the fact that Dartz had not answered his question. "Maybe," he said suddenly, as if the random thought had just come to him, "you should try to make up with them." He spread his wings, which was generally another sign of contentment, and let them hang down onto the floor.

Now Dartz simply stared at him in disbelief. "Are you suggesting that I find a way to apologize to them?" he said incredulously, feeling somewhat annoyed that Alexander had abruptly brought this subject up. It was not this odd creature's business what Dartz did. The turquoise-haired man doubted that Alexander even understood the seriousness of what had transpired during the reign of the original Doom.

"Well, why not?" Alexander asked, tilting his head to the side.

Dartz narrowed his eyes and looked away. "Really, it isn't that simple," he answered, standing up and crossing to the window. He looked out at the softly falling snow that had begun to descend several moments ago. _It isn't simple at all,_ he thought to himself, feeling a mixture of revulsion, disgust, and guilt.

Alexander got up and wandered over to him, his wings still outstretched. The being hated to keep them folded on his back. He found it uncomfortable and too reminiscent of when he had been trapped in the bubble holding cell. From that experience he had gained both claustrophobia and a fear of being alone. To be truly happy, Alexander had to be around people. He thrived on it. And he could never be kept in an enclosed space for very long or he would fall into a panic.

"You could say you're sorry," he spoke up now, blinking childlike blue eyes at Dartz. The man could see this in the vague reflection from the window.

He whirled then, not thinking about what he was saying as his golden eyes flashed. "'Sorry' can't fix everything, Alexander!" he scolded. "It won't bring back their families. It won't take away the fact that I betrayed them all in the name of my idealistic, selfish, hypocritical goals!" He gripped the creature's cotton and polyester covered shoulders, Alexander shrinking in shock under the pressure. "To go to them after everything I did, and to merely be able to say that I'm sorry for destroying their lives, would be utterly unthinkable. Simply saying that would not make up for the wrongs I committed. Don't you see?"

His guilt over everything that had happened was still strong. He could not understand why he, of all people, had been given a second chance at life. The Orichalcos had ruined him and he had not been in his right mind, but he still did not consider that an excuse for his actions. He could not entirely blame the stone, not when he had honestly wanted to purify the world of the wickedness he had seen in it. He had never intended for things to turn out the way they had, but since they had, he had to live with the consequences. And so did the ones whom he had hurt.

Coming back to the present, he looked into Alexander's confused eyes and then slowly released him. He had not meant to become so incensed, but the thought that anything could be fixed with a word sounded so ludicrous. He knew that it could not be. To him, it seemed almost pretentious to go to those whose lives he had destroyed—as if he would be hoping that they would forgive him because he had gone to apologize. He certainly would not go to them for forgiveness, nor think he even deserved it. He felt that it was better to leave them alone to live their lives. They were surely trying to forget their pasts. How would it be if he then appeared and made them dig into their painful memories once again? Dartz sighed to himself, turning away.

He started when he felt arms go around him from behind. Alexander was cuddling again, and burying his face into Dartz's thick, fluffy hair. The man tensed, wishing Alexander would not do such things.

"It might be a start, anyway," came the boy's muffled voice. "I mean, if they knew you really meant it. . . ." He seemed to be entirely unfazed by Dartz's outburst, and most likely he was. Not much ever fazed Alexander.

"What would it matter anyway?" Dartz pointed out after a moment of contemplation. "If you kill Alister, he won't be here to even hear such an apology, and you don't like Raphael and Valon, so why would you care if they did?" He moved away from the creature and walked over to his desk, but Alexander followed and sat on the floor again. He smiled proudly.

"Because Alister loves them," he answered. "That means I have to look out for them whenever I can, even though I hate them. Alister would want to know that they're going to be taken care of when he's gone. And if you made up with them, then maybe you could help them and be there for them if they needed you." The unorthodox thing crossed his legs Indian-style and leaned forward, gripping the front of his calves with his hands. He was quite pleased with himself. He had everything planned out, and now it was almost time for him to finally get to see Alister face to face. Then he would fulfill Alister's wish and they could both die happy. Raphael and Valon would be happy too, to know that Alister would no longer have to be sad.

Dartz could only shake his head again. "You are a strange, strange creature," he remarked flatly, his frustration having faded away. It seemed impossible to stay angry towards this innocent being. And really, why had he let Alexander continue living there? Was it because of how well he and Chris got along? Dartz did find it good that she had a friend to play with and talk to besides her wolf Sky.

But Alexander was definitely not an ordinary friend. Chris herself had tried to talk to him about his view on life and on Alister, without much success. Dartz knew that his daughter was worried about the consequences of what would happen if Alexander went through with his mission, but he doubted that anything they said would deter him from it. The boy's mind was made up and he continued to insist that he knew what Alister wanted because he had felt Alister's feelings for years. Dartz could not seem to argue with that logic.

Blast, how would he know but what Alexander might actually be right about what Alister wanted? Dartz was aware of Alister's past suicidal tendencies, and he knew that if Alister believed he was a threat to his friends' safety, he would not want to live. But in any case, he was certain that Alister's friends would not have the reaction that Alexander fully believed they would. They would be crushed to lose part of their new family.

Dartz simply did not know what to do. On the one hand, it did not seem as though what happened to his former warriors was any of his business. But Alexander was in his care, so Dartz was responsible for what he did. It seemed impossible to stop the being's intentions, however.

Alexander closed his eyes in contentment. Dartz's words did not bother him. Yes, he knew he was a strange creature. He was the only one of his kind, and he was the only one who knew how to make Alister happy.

He pondered for a moment. Did he have people who loved him? Chris did, and he was certain that Dartz did. Ironheart, he was not sure about. But would Chris and Dartz be sad when he died? Surely, they would be happy that he had completed his mission. Yes, that must be true. They loved him, but they would not hinder his mission because they knew how important it was for him to fulfill it.

* * *

Seto Kaiba growled to himself, listening to the phone ring for what seemed to be the hundredth time that morning. There were not many sounds he found more annoying than a ringing telephone. He relaxed slightly when he heard his secretary answer it. Most likely it was one of the new prospective partners calling about the business deal they were considering. But he supposed it could also be a reporter. Oh how he hated it when one of them leaked through. 

He sorted through his emails, finding nothing of interest. Things had been busy at the company for the last few months, which was something to be grateful for. At last the stock prices had finally risen, and now they were even higher than they had been before the Paradius fiasco. He just hoped things would remain that way.

His attention was turned to the intercom when he heard it buzz. Frowning, he pressed the button. "What is it?" he demanded of his secretary.

"Sir, Roland's on the phone," came the reply. "He said something strange happened."

Seto's eyes narrowed in irritation. "Strange?" he repeated. "What kind of strange?" _We can't afford to have anything ridiculous go on now!_ he said to himself. _We're just coming out on top again!_

"I'll let him tell you." There was a click, and in the next moment the telephone rang. Seto snapped it up.

"What's going on, Roland?" he demanded.

He could hear Roland's stressed voice on the other end. "Mr. Kaiba, someone in the shipping department said that a truck carrying the new duel disks to Hamburg, Germany was hijacked," came the astonishing announcement. "A distress call came in from the driver and was traced to a location. When the police arrived, they found the driver was found unconscious by the side of the road, and the truck has disappeared." Roland also sounded highly confused, which he no doubt was. Something such as this had never happened before, in all of KaibaCorp history.

Seto stood up, slamming his hand down on his desk. "What?" he cried, his flashing blue eyes narrowing in bewilderment. "This is ridiculous! Why would someone steal a truck filled with duel disks?"

Roland brushed a handkerchief over his brow. "I'm sure I don't know, Mr. Kaiba," he replied. "We're investigating now, trying to find out information from anyone who might have seen what happened or who might have even seen the truck, but we're running into dead ends." He then proceeded to explain how the truck driver seemed to be in an almost comatose state. The man had been taken to a hospital owned by SchroiderCorp, but so far there was no indication that he would awaken at any time soon.

Seto was exasperated. "Not again!" he grumbled. That sounded too much like the earmarks of what happened to victims of Orichalcos duels. But Doom Reborn had their own duel disks. It would not make sense for them to take those belonging to KaibaCorp. And he had been hoping against hope that their foolish movement had been halted months ago, even though he had known that it was not likely that the entire organization had perished during the temple's collapse.

"What should we do, sir?" Roland asked now. He winced as first one phone, then another, rang in the background. He could not answer them all at once.

"Keep looking everywhere!" Seto ordered. "Don't give up until we find that truck and those duel disks. And the moment the driver regains consciousness, question him!" Somehow he doubted that the man would be able to come to, but Seto decided that they would simply have to believe that he would. After all, Doom Reborn could not be responsible every time someone was found unconscious.

As the young CEO hung up with his aide, he sank back into his chair with a frustrated grunt. This was absolutely bizarre. And he did not intend to sit around twiddling his thumbs while others were searching for the solution. He would look as well. Quickly he began a search on his laptop to find out exactly where in Hamburg the truck had been when it had been hijacked.

He growled low to himself, wondering if there was possibly someone he knew who would be able to tell him something about what had occurred. It seemed odd that the robbery had happened there, of all places. The duel disks were being shipped to places all over the world, and yet the villains had chose to attack the ones going to Hamburg. Was that a coincidence, or would it prove significant? Seto would soon find out.

* * *

Armina typed furiously at her computer, her sharp sapphire eyes boring into the screen. Her employer would find these latest developments quite interesting, she was certain, but this situation had the potential to become disastrous. There was the possibility that they would be suspected in this event. The tabloids would have a field day with the story, at any rate. They loved making the company look guilty for anything that went wrong. 

"This is all we need," the turquoise-haired girl murmured, clicking out of the word processor as the message came up that she had mail. When she pressed the button and was taken to her Inbox, she found the new email swiftly and narrowed her eyes at it as she saw the name of the sender: Clarimonde.

_Another communication so soon? What's going on?_ Armina wondered. She clicked on the email's subject line—Battle Over—and waited as it opened. She held a hand to her mouth as she grimly read the contents.

We're defeated. All of this is coming to a head right now, even though we thought we would have more time. Everything we've been struggling to protect will suffer. There is not any hope, unless you can lead Master to victory. I am gravely wounded and Erma is missing. The others are unaccounted for as well, but the chances are that they are dead or dying. Doom Reborn is about to win! They are more powerful than we even believed.

Armina slumped back in her chair, continuing to gaze at the message before her. She did not want to believe that it held any truth. This was not possible. If they could not stop Doom Reborn, then who could? It seemed that there was no one.

"Erma . . . missing?" she whispered now. "Sister, no. . . ." She would hold out hope that Erma was missing because she was constructing a plan. Erma was the leader. She could not be taken down so easily.

And what of Clarimonde? Would she survive? It almost looked as though her email had been sent in haste and had not been finished. Where had she sent it from? Exactly how "gravely wounded" was she? And what had happened to the others?

She scanned the fourth line of the email once more. "Lead Master to victory," she mused aloud, removing her glasses. What did that mean? Was she not supposed to protect their master? Leading him to victory made it sound as though she needed to send him into battle. But he would not know how to stop Doom Reborn. They used magic to fuel their plans, and he had no knowledge of real magic.

"Lead who to victory, Fraulein?"

Armina started and whirled at the voice. Siegfried was just entering the outer office, gazing at her curiously. Instantly his secretary was all business. She replaced her glasses and closed out the email. "No one, sir," she answered. "I was . . . glancing over the news story of how KaibaCorp's shipment of duel disks was hijacked here in Hamburg, and wondering what sort of victory the thieves believed they had gained." Siegfried could not see that email, nor have any knowledge about what it could mean. Armina had to solve this problem herself, without their plans being exposed. But suddenly she felt so helpless. What if she truly was the last one left?

"Ah yes," Siegfried nodded, brushing his hair over his shoulder. "I had heard about that. Strange, isn't it?" He looked at Armina, wondering what it had actually been that she had said. She was an honest, hard worker, as far as he knew. And he did not think that she was the type to read novels during the time that she should be working. So what was it that she was hiding from him? He looked closer, frowning slightly. Her eyes displayed her inner turmoil, though she appeared calm. He did not think that he had ever seen such turmoil in her eyes before.

She looked away. "Yes, it is, Herr von Schroider," she replied quietly.

Siegfried turned to go into his office, recognizing that he would learn nothing from her at this point. She had always been somewhat aloof with him, and it was obvious that she did not want to talk about what was going on now. If it was something to do with the company, she would have told him, so he assumed it was something personal. Still, he calmly remarked as he began to walk away, "If something is troubling you, Fraulein Armina, you are welcome to speak with me about it."

Still she did not look up. "Yes, I know. Thank you, sir."

Siegfried opened the door to his office, glancing back to her in confusion. Something was obviously wrong. He had never seen her behave this way. And after he had left the outer office, Armina leaned forward over her desk, feeling as though she would sob in despair.


	4. The Attack

**Chapter Three**

Valon rolled over in bed, annoyed at whatever force was pulling him out of his slumber. He did not want to have to get up already. He worked the late shift at the local Domino's Pizza and never returned home before one in the morning. That should entitle him to being able to sleep in. Yawning, he burrowed deeper into the pillow.

As he drifted back into the state between consciousness and sleep, various memories from different times in his life swirled through his mind. He recalled the orphanage, where he had stayed with Mother Mary. Then there was the prison, where he had gone after he had beaten the gang members in a fit of fury. Why had he done that? He searched through the fragments of recollections for the answers.

He had been angry. . . . The church had burned down, and they had been laughing. He had been certain that they had done it, especially when they had begun their cruel taunts. That was why he had attacked. Then the police had found the scene and had arrested him. Later, after the gang had recovered from the beating, they had been sent there as well.

He had hated prison. He had been treated cruelly, and just as another hardened criminal, even though he was only a minor and had only been angry because he had believed that the gang had deliberately burned the church down to kill Mother Mary. The guards had always been rough with him, and when he had struggled against them, they had only become more angry and eventually had thrown him into solitary confinement. He still did not think that was fair.

He rolled over, opening his eyes and staring at the floor. It was not likely that he would go back to sleep. Now he was remembering how he had gotten out of prison. Dartz had been in league with the prison warden and had arranged for Valon to be sent to that dueling island, knowing that Valon would be the one to make it through. He realized that now. He had gotten into one disaster after another, making a mess out of his life.

_But I never really had a real family before,_ he thought to himself. _I never would have found Raph and Alister if Dartz hadn't done stuff to bring me into Doom. So . . . was it all worth it in the end?_

He knew that he had grown and matured since then. But he did not think it was fair that Mother Mary had had to die, and he still did not understand why it had been that way. She had always been a kind, righteous person and had always strived to help anyone in need. If God existed, why had He not saved such a faithful servant of His? Why had Valon's rebellious, confused life been spared instead?

He had not been able to do much, if anything, to help his friends. He was always getting into trouble, and they were always helping him to get out of it. He sighed. If they were in trouble, would he be able to save them? Or would they be taken from him too? He had not been able to save Mother Mary.

Sometimes he found that he could actually understand Alister's fears of opening his heart. It made sense that the redhead had been afraid. All of his loved ones had died in the past, during the war. Valon had thought it was painful to lose the one person who had loved him. Alister had lost many. And of course Raphael had as well. They were three lost souls, trying to find their way together.

And of course Valon was able to better relate to Alister after his bout of amnesia. When Alister had found him wandering around the city, it had taken a great deal of trust for the Australian to actually go with Alister. He had not wanted to trust the unusual gray-eyed man at first, but at last he had decided to give Alister the benefit of the doubt and find out if he had been telling the truth. There had been times when he had still doubted after that, but of course in the end he was grateful that he had agreed to trust Alister. He still wondered occasionally if Alister was truly thankful that he had opened his heart, but he supposed that the redhead definitely was, or he would not have tried so hard to get Valon to come with him when the brunette had amnesia.

He stretched and yawned, sitting up. Still feeling sleepy, he turned on the radio and discovered Christmas music playing. Mumbling to himself, he climbed out of bed and shuffled to the window. Crystal white snowflakes greeted him, dancing and twirling to the ground.

"Oy," he muttered. "It's like a Christmas card or a snowglobe or somethin'."

He had never had much reason to celebrate holidays. When he had been at the orphanage, he had participated in the festivities for occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas (mainly the food), but afterwards he had not. He and the other two bikers had celebrated last year, however, and he supposed that they would do so again this year. They had had Thanksgiving dinner several days ago, and they were still trying to sort through the leftovers. All were trying to find creative ways to use turkey, and of course Liu was gleefully helping.

Down the hall he heard the shower come on. So somebody else was up. But that was not really a surprise. Valon was usually the last of the three to awaken.

Raphael was the first. He was a morning person, and he had to be up early to get to work at the insurance company. Wearing a suit and sitting at a desk did not especially please him, but the pay was good—and they definitely needed it. Valon had taken the pizza delivery job when they had been really hard-pressed for money. That was when Alister had revealed that he had been working at home, building websites. (Being as anti-social as he is, Alister had not wanted to pick a job that involved interaction with people.) Their finances had started to level out now, much to all of their relief.

The brunette wandered out into the hall, blinking as he saw Liu playing with a large white feather. He had arrived home late the previous night, and Raphael had been asleep by then. Alister had waited up for Valon, but he had been half-asleep and he had not explained anything about Alexander, so the sight of the feather was highly confusing to Valon.

"Where the heck did you get that, kitty?" he said aloud. Liu mewed, throwing the feather into the air and then leaping to catch it. Valon shook his head, turning to head downstairs.

He was appropriately stunned to see a black-clad creature stretched out on the couch, its mismatched wings spread out on the back of the piece of furniture. It looked up at him, blinking, and then grinned. "Hi!" it said cheerily, as Valon simply stared in disbelief.

* * *

While it was late morning in Domino City, Oregon, it was already evening across the world in Germany. Leonhard was just finishing watching the DVD of Disney's _Beauty and the Beast_ when he realized that he heard the grand piano down the hall being played. He blinked, turning to gaze down the corridor. Was his brother playing it? The last he had known, the man had come home from work and had gone into his home office. 

Siegfried very rarely played the piano. He was usually too busy, or he was reclining in other ways. But when he did go to the piano, he could play for some time. Their mother had seen to it that he had taken lessons as a child, and he did not mind that now, though at the time he had been irritated.

Leonhard observed that the current piece was quiet and melancholy. Siegfried had a certain fascination with somber things. Many myths and operas often were not happy. Leonhard was not certain why Siegfried liked such things, but he had to wonder if his brother felt sad sometimes when he played the piano. He was certain that Siegfried often did not feel as happy as he usually appeared to be.

The boy slowly got up, walking down the hall to the room where the piano was. As he entered, he saw Siegfried sitting on the bench. The man touched the keys gently and gracefully, gazing far off into the distance as he played the memorized piece. Silently Leonhard came over, placing his hands on the side of the instrument as he listened to and watched his brother's private recital.

As Siegfried finished, he looked over at Leonhard and started. He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had not even noticed his younger brother's approach. Then he smiled at the child. "Hello, Leonhard," he greeted, leaning back.

Leonhard smiled in return, slowly sitting down on the edge of the bench. "Is everything okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Siegfried replied. "I simply felt that it was time I played something again. I never seem to have the time anymore." It had been a hectic day at the company, and Armina had continued to act odd—as if she was trying to stay aloof while at the same time feeling as though she would break down and cry. He had to wonder what on earth had happened.

Then there was the mystery of who had hijacked the KaibaCorp truck and taken the duel disks. As Armina had predicted, some of the tabloids had picked up the story and were blaming SchroiderCorp, calling the hijacking another of Siegfried's tricks. Siegfried was annoyed by this. He never would have done something so petty, and certainly he never would do it now, after the Grand Prix fiasco. But people with intelligence did not believe tabloids anyway.

Leonhard reached out, gently brushing a long section of Siegfried's hair back over his shoulder. "You look really tired, Elder Brother," he observed quietly.

"It was a long day," Siegfried told him.

He tried to think back to what Armina had told him about herself during the job interview several months previous. She had actually said as little as possible, preferring to give short, straight to the point answers to his questions. When he had asked about her family, she had mentioned that she had several sisters but no other living relatives. He wondered if the email she had received pertained to those sisters. Perhaps he should call her and ask how she was doing. He could certainly relate to being concerned if siblings were hurt or in trouble.

Leonhard looked down at the piano keys, then back up at his brother. "It was nice to hear you play again," he said then, smiling a bit. "It's been a while. . . ."

Siegfried smiled slightly as well. "It relaxes me," he answered, beginning another quiet, reflective melody.

* * *

Shortly after this, Siegfried did indeed try to call Armina, but he was greeted only with her answering machine. He left a short message and then hung up, wondering where his secretary had gone. Most likely she was trying to resolve her problem, whatever that was. But she had not wanted to tell him about it anyway, and he was not one to pry. 

He looked up when Leonhard came running into the room, his hazel eyes wide in panic and bewilderment. Siegfried stood up, coming over to him. "What is it, Leonhard?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he saw the boy's expression.

"Siegfried," Leonhard gasped in between breaths, "someone collapsed on our porch! Heidi found her and brought her in."

Siegfried frowned deeply and got up, intending to go investigate for himself. "Is she badly hurt?" he asked.

Leonhard nodded. "She's bleeding really badly and she's not conscious." He paused, hesitating, and then revealed why he was so bemused. "Siegfried, she looks like one of your Valkyrie cards!"

Siegfried stared at him. He was about to say that was impossible, but he supposed it truly was not. After all, so many other Duel Monsters had been seen wandering about. And he had wondered why the Valkyries had not seemed to be amongst them.

Quickly he followed Leonhard out the door.

* * *

Valon continued to stare at Alexander in disbelief. "What the heck are you?" he finally burst out. "And why do you look like Alister?" This was highly disturbing to him, as it had been to Raphael. Valon had never seen a picture of Alister as a child, but if he had he would find the resemblance quite unsettling. 

"I am Alister!" Alexander declared in his soft voice, sitting up. He blinked at Valon, sorting through the information he had about him from Alister's memories. The Australian had annoyed Alister at first, and they still did not always get along, but they had become close friends. Alexander was certain that Valon would be happy, as would Raphael, that Alexander was going to fulfill Alister's deathwish. After all, they would want their friend to be truly happy.

Valon gawked, then narrowed his eyes. "That's crazy!" he snapped. "Alister's upstairs. His hair's darker than yours, and he doesn't have wings! What kinda costume is that anyway?" He stalked over, grabbing the angel wing to pull on it and see how real it was. After all, he was certain that it was an elaborate joke and that he could expose the intruder's prank in a moment.

Instantly Alexander retaliated, slapping Valon with the wing and sending him stumbling back. "They're mine," he replied angrily. "You can't pull them off." Even though he was usually sweet, he was not defenseless, and he would not stand for anyone poking and prodding at him as if he was some kind of science experiment.

Valon sneezed violently from the white feathers that had tickled his nose, then looked up when he heard Alister's voice.

"What's going on here?" The redhead had heard the commotion and hence, had come downstairs to find out what was going on. Now he frowned, gazing at the scene before him. This, then, had to be the creature that Raphael had described. And Alister could see that it truly did resemble him, though when Alexander looked over at him with bright, loving eyes, Alister was reminded more of his younger brother Miruko. This whatever it was had a definite childlike appearance.

Before he quite knew what was happening, Alexander had ran forward and glomped him. Alister tensed, feeling the creature's adoring embrace, and then looked down at it when it looked up.

"I'm so glad to finally see you," Alexander exclaimed, still in that soft, yet cheerful voice. "I never got to see you before, when I lived in your heart. I only got to experience your feelings." He reached up and stroked Alister's hair, much to Alister's chagrin. "I sensed when you were happy, or sad, or angry . . . or heartbroken . . . or panicked. . . ." But despite never actually having before seen Alister face to face, he had recognized him instantly. It was a special sense that he possessed, and that he did not find strange or out of the ordinary at all. Why should he not recognize Alister, when he had always watched over him and when Alister had given him physical form in order for him to grant Alister's wish?

Valon could only gape at this scene. Due to not having been told about Alexander, he was so terribly baffled. And he could see that Alister was not happy about the affection Alexander was showing to him. Alister was not the kind of person who was often physically affectionate, with hugs and such. Alexander appeared to be his polar opposite.

Finally finding his voice, the brunette burst out, "What do you think you're doing! Let him go!" He made a move forward to pull Alexander away, but Alister struggled out of the embrace before Valon had crossed the room.

"Raphael said that you want to kill me," Alister said flatly, searching Alexander's ice-blue eyes for the truth behind what he was doing. "He said that you think I want to die." Now that he was seeing Alexander, and hearing him, he knew that this was the being from his dreams. He had been dreaming about this odd creature months before, for some reason. They must have some sort of connection, but he did not understand what that would be.

"Of course I do!" Alexander declared, while Valon gave an indignant cry—both at Alexander's confirmation and at the realization that he had once again been left out of something important.

Without warning Alexander began flapping his wings, becoming airborne. He hovered in the air near the ceiling, looking down at Alister and Valon. "I hate your friends, Alister," he said softly. "You love them, and I have to be everything you're not. I have to love what you hate. That's why I love you. That's why I have to do this." A turquoise glow abruptly shot forth from his hands and Alister gave a yell of pain as he was thrown harshly to the floor. It felt as though his body was on fire. The blast caused the front door to be thrown open as well, but this was ignored.

Furious now, Valon ran forward and stood in front of his dazed friend. "Now just wait a minute!" he yelled with outstretched arms. "I dunno who you are, or where you came from, but you're crazy! You can't just go murderin' my chum because you feel like it!" His blue eyes flashed. "You'll havta go through me first!"

Alexander blinked at him, obviously confused. "Murder?" he repeated. "Oh no! I'd never do that." In his childlike mind, to murder meant to kill someone out of hate. And that was not what he was trying to do. He was going to kill Alister out of love. All he wanted was to make the gray-eyed man happy.

Valon's mouth dropped open. "Then what do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

Alister slowly sat up, rubbing his head. He looked up at Valon, realizing that the Australian was trying to protect him, and was touched by that. They had come a long way from how they had disliked and completely misunderstood each other during Doom.

The crimson-haired man turned his gaze to Alexander, who was still hovering in the air and now looked worried. Alister frowned, wondering what was wrong. This odd thing disturbed him, but at the same time Alister felt a certain pity for it. The poor creature only wanted to do what Alister wanted, though he was terribly mistaken on what that was. And Alister himself had sometimes tried to deal out justice without actually knowing what he had been doing. He regretted that now, and he knew that if Alexander continued his assault, the creature would regret that.

"I'd never murder anyone!" Alexander said again, vehemently. "I know I hate Valon and Raphael, but I can't hurt them! You love them, Alister, and I can't hurt what you love." He looked at Alister, pleading with his eyes for understanding. Did Alister not realize that Alexander only wanted his happiness? Valon certainly did not seem to understand, and this puzzled the winged boy. Raphael had not understood either.

"Oh sure," Valon cried now, before Alister could respond, "but you can hurt what _you_ love!" He was so caught up in the moment that he did not hear the bathroom door opening as Raphael stepped out. The brunette felt a certain hatred welling in his heart. He was just remembering Alister again, and now this bizarre intruder wanted to take his friend away. Well, he would not let it happen. No matter what he had to do, he would see to it that Alister would not die by this being's hands.

Alexander blasted Alister again, more fiercely this time and sending him crashing against the staircase. "He wants to die!" he answered. "I have to fulfill whatever he wants, because that's why I'm here. I wouldn't exist if Alister didn't want me to. He wished me into existence because his will to die was so strong!"

Alister struggled to get up, crashing on the stairs after several failed attempts and several more attacks from Alexander. The blasts were harsh, and they drained him of his strength. Then he felt firm hands grip him under his arms and help him to stand. He looked up at Raphael gratefully before turning his gaze to Alexander.

"I don't know where you got your ideas," he said quietly, "but I don't want to die." His eyes narrowed as his expression became firm. As he said the words, he knew they were true. He wanted to live. He had to live, for his friends. He wanted to be with them. Someday he would get to be with his brother again, but for now he had another family and he could not and would not desert them.

Alexander felt his heart twisting in confusion. "No!" he burst out. "That isn't true! I felt your pain . . . I felt it for years! I felt your desire to die grow until it was almost over-whelming." He swallowed hard, tears glistening in his eyes. "It was so hard . . . to know that I couldn't do anything to ease your pain. I had to just sit there, feeling what you were feeling and knowing that you would never kill yourself. For you to die, someone else had to make it happen." His wings flapped slower now, lowering him to halfway between the ceiling and the floor.

"Then . . . then for a while, your desire to die was quelled." Alexander smiled sadly. "I was glad then, because I knew that you would be happy living. But when you summoned me, you were in so much pain again!" He held up his fists, clenching them and still feeling bewildered. Was it conceivable that Alister truly did not want to die again? But that could not be true! Alister's longing for death had given Alexander physical form. "You were going to kill your friends against your will . . . and you couldn't bear that. You were begging and pleading to be allowed to die yourself! I heard you again, and I wanted more than anything to be let out so I could help you, and then it happened!"

Alister gazed at him, a sudden realization shooting through his soul. Alexander had been created when Alister had been in the penalty game with Raphael and Valon. It was true—Alister had wanted to die then. That had been the prevailing emotion, and Alexander had felt that. Alister still did not understand exactly how the being could exist, but things were slowly starting to make more sense.

Raphael looked at the creature coldly. "Let me ask you something," he asked.

Alexander tilted his head to the side. "What's that?" Now he wanted to go home to Dartz and ask him about what Alister's friends had been saying to him. He was so very confused now! He was certain that he was not trying to commit murder, and that his intentions were not evil, but to listen to Valon, it certainly seemed that way. Why were things not going the way he had planned? Why had Alister said he did not want to die? Had it just been because of Valon's and Raphael's presence? Maybe Alister knew that they would not be happy and so he did not want them to know of his truest desire. Yes, that would make sense.

"If you hate everything Alister loves, does that mean you hate his little brother too?" Raphael was not certain what to make of Alexander. It did seem that the boy was sincere and did not mean any true harm, but it angered Raphael that Alexander had suddenly appeared and was trying to kill Alister. He could see how the blasts had weakened the younger man, even though Alister was trying to not let it be known. Raphael had known him long enough to recognize when he was trying to hide his true condition. Alister was greatly suffering right now, and that worried Raphael immensely.

Alexander froze, just staring at Raphael before turning his gaze to Valon and finally, to Alister. He had never thought about that before. He should hate Miruko, he realized. But wait—Alister loved all children. If Alexander hated Miruko, he should also hate Chris, and he loved her. He felt dizzy suddenly. "I . . . I don't know," he admitted softly. The new information he was receiving was overwhelming his innocent mind. The world really was complicated, was it not? Alexander himself was complicated. Did he even know for certain who he was and what Alister wanted?

He tried to shake off the doubts. It had to be what he had determined—that Alister was only saying that he wanted to live because his friends would be upset if he said the truth! After all, how could anyone know Alister better than Alexander himself? He had always been with Alister, through everything. Now that he had been given a physical body in order to complete his mission, he could not fail. That would not be fair to Alister, nor would it show gratitude to him.

But what if he could no longer properly sense Alister's feelings since he had been given the corporeal form? He had believed that Alister's desires had stayed the same, but it had been months since then. What if Alister now had a different wish, and Alexander would be destroying it by killing him? It was too much to digest at once. If that was true, then Alexander had not been making Alister happy at all. If it was true, then . . . then Alexander had already failed in what he had been trying so desperately to do.

"I'm going to come back," he said finally, as all three bikers looked at him—a variety of feelings obvious from their eyes. Raphael looked suspicious and distrusting. Valon looked angry and hateful. And Alister looked indescribable. Was he sad? Was he upset? He did not look happy, but Alexander knew that it had been ages since he had actually felt happiness radiating from Alister's soul. He had wanted to see Alister look happy as he died, and to know that he had finally been able to accomplish what he had always longed to when he had felt Alister's pain.

"Why don't you just go crawl back into whatever pit you came from!" Valon snapped, clenching his fists. It was obvious to him how much pain Alister was in. He looked close to collapsing. Maybe, Valon feared, Alister would still die. They did not know how strong the blasts had been that Alexander had used, nor the extent of what they would cause. "I mean, you've caused enough trouble, haven't you!"

Alexander swallowed hard, looking to Alister for some sort of response. The other redhead swayed dangerously before gripping the end of the banister with a shaking hand. He looked up at Alexander again, his eyes clear for one brief moment before the dizziness took over. "I know you want to help," he said quietly, "but I want to live. Alexander, that's the truth." Upon saying this, Alister crumpled to the floor in a dead faint. The blasts that Alexander had used had been meant to kill, and they were very painful. Alister had struggled to stay conscious, but he had failed in the end.

An arrow slammed into Alexander's heart. His wings ceased to flap entirely and he fell to the floor on his knees, watching blankly as Valon and Raphael—and Liu as well—rushed to their friend's aid.

Tears sprang to his eyes and spilled over as he gripped the carpet. "No," he whispered, "no. . . . I only wanted to make him happy. . . . I didn't want him to suffer any more! I thought . . . I thought I could finally fulfill his wishes and do something to help him, but . . . but I've killed him when he didn't want it!" He had recognized the look Alister had given him right before collapsing. That look had held nothing but sincerity. Alister had not been making stories up. Now he truly did want to live, but Alexander had tried to take him away from what he wanted.

The pitiable creature did not stop to think that if Alister was truly dead, he, Alexander, would cease to exist as well. He had known that before, but now he was too upset. His reason for living was now gone. He did not know Alister as well as he had thought. He had not known what would make Alister truly happy now, and the realization that his actions were not what Alister wanted was too much to bear.

He watched as Raphael laid Alister down on the couch. The body was so limp. . . . Alister looked so pale and cold and still. . . . Was that what it was to die? Was the agony that Alexander was experiencing the same agony that Alister's friends were now going through?

Valon suddenly ran over, standing in front of Alexander with hate burning in his blue eyes. "Are you happy now?" he yelled. "Come on, are you? You got what you wanted, didn't you? You killed him! You killed him!" He grabbed the creature's demon wing, nearly crushing it in his hands. Alexander just stared at him blankly, not even making a move to defend himself now. What was the point? If Alister was dead against his will, and Alexander had caused it, then he had no reason to want to protect himself—or to live.

Then Raphael's voice cut through the silence that followed. "Valon . . . that's enough," he said quietly. "Alister is still alive. Leave that . . . leave him alone and come over here." He growled low, not certain what to call Alexander. The being had never given them a name, only _The Angel of Death._ How had Alister known a name to call him by? But such questions could wait. They were of little important right now. "I'm angry too, but that's not gonna solve anything." Gently he laid a hand on Alister's forehead. Their friend did not have a fever, but he was laying silent and still. Then he moaned weakly in pain.

Valon continued to grip furiously at the wing, but he knew Raphael was right. Alister needed their help now. Slowly he let go, watching the appendage fall lifelessly to the floor. Then, without a word, he went over to the couch and knelt down on the carpet beside it, proceeding to check Alister's vital signs.

Raphael looked over at Alexander. "You should leave now," he spoke then, his voice still tinged with the anger he felt. He knew he needed to see things from Alexander's point of view as well as his own, but it was hard. Alister was laying hurt because of that entity's actions. It would take Raphael a while to cool down from this experience, even though he did know that Alexander had not wanted to do anything wrong.

Alexander nodded shakily, but continued to kneel on the floor where he was. His mind was blank. He could not even think of how to get up. All he could think of was how Alister was in pain, and he had caused it.

When Dartz entered through the open door and found Alexander in his current state, he cursed in his mind. He had come too late. Alister was . . . hopefully just hurt, for Alexander's sake, but the creature was obviously in mental anguish anyway. It was as the Atlantean had feared—Alexander now knew that this was not what Alister wanted. And from what Dartz knew about the strange boy, he wondered if Alexander would ever get over this.

The turquoise-haired man knelt down, as of yet unnoticed by the two conscious bikers, and looked into the winged being's agonized blue eyes. Then Alexander moved closer to him, almost hesitantly, and laid on the floor, laying his head on Dartz's lap as he regretfully cried.


	5. The New Plan

**Chapter Four**

Leonhard led Siegfried into one of the nearby guest rooms, where Heidi was tending to the injured woman who had been laid in the bed. Bloodied armor was strewn about on the floor, and as Siegfried approached, he could see that the warrior had been given a nightgown. He gazed at her in awe, dumbstruck.

Indeed, she resembled one of his Valkyries. Her long, tufted pink hair fell around her shoulders and was spread out underneath her limp body. Though her eyes were closed, Siegfried was certain that they were a deep blue. She looked very young, and yet very mature at the same time.

He could see several places on the nightgown where red shown through. Heidi had tried to bandage the wounds, but it seemed that the bleeding had not stopped for most of them. The maid stood to the side now, looking concerned.

"What should I do, Meister Siegfried?" she exclaimed, wringing her hands. "Surely she must be one of the Duel Monsters that's been roaming around for the last few months. Medical doctors probably can't do anything for her."

Siegfried gently took the unconscious woman's hand and began feeling for a pulse. "Medical doctors are all that we have, Fraulein Heidi," he responded. "Go call one, please." He leaned back, frowning as he found that the Valkyrie's pulse rate was abnormally fast. How had she received such wounds? Had she been battling another Duel Monster? It almost looked as though some of the injuries could have been inflicted by a sword.

He thought back to the strange Doom Reborn organization that he and Leonhard had unwillingly tangled with. Some of the Duel Monsters had seemed to be in league with them, or at the very least, supported them. Maybe this Valkyrie had fought with one of them. After all, it was unlikely that Doom Reborn had ceased to exist.

Leonhard worriedly hung back in the doorway. "Do you think she'll be alright, Elder Brother?" he asked. He wondered what it was like for Siegfried, to finally see one of the warriors that he had based his deck around. For him, seeing some of his favorite card characters would be a confusing, shocking, and thrilling experience all at once. And if he or she turned up injured, he would be highly disturbed and concerned. He could see that Siegfried was definitely concerned. He also looked as if he was still having a hard time believing that this was not a hoax.

Siegfried shook his head slowly. "I don't know," he replied, truly feeling quite helpless. Really, what was there that could be done? He did not know if the medical doctors could help, but at least maybe the physician would be able to stitch the wounds, if they required that. But what if she needed a blood transfusion? Did card characters even have the same blood types as humans? There were many things that could be problems if her body makeup was significantly different.

He had not yet fully addressed the fact that she seemed to be a Valkyrie. That seemed so strange and still impossible, even though he knew that it was not. He had never thought that he would see such a magnificent creature in person, nor that the poor thing would turn up in such a beat-up condition. He wanted to know that she would be able to get the help she needed, if it was at all possible. It seemed that was the least he could do for one of the beings that had inspired him since he had been a child.

Leonhard bit his lip, glancing to the armor on the floor. Then his eyes widened as he noticed a piece of folded up paper that had fallen to the carpet. "I wonder if she was carrying this," he said quietly, reaching to pick it up. He shuddered at the sight of the bloodstains gracing two different spots. There was blood all over the stone porch as well, and he imagined it also graced the stairs. Some of the maids were trying to clean it up at the moment, before it had a chance to set in.

He had seen the Valkyrie's body when Heidi had first found her. Blood had been everywhere and at first neither he or Heidi had been certain whether the poor thing was still alive. But then Helga, one of the older maids, had managed to find that she was breathing, albeit irregularly. They had brought her in and cleaned her up, and that was when Leonhard had gone to find Siegfried and tell him. It seemed that everything had happened so fast.

Now Siegfried looked over, his eyes narrowing when he saw what Leonhard was holding. "Maybe she was," he mused then. "Give it to me." The boy complied, and Siegfried carefully opened the paper despite its crinkling protests. He held it up to the light, trying to ignore the crimson blotches that had soaked through. But he could not make sense out of the inked sketch that he discovered. He frowned, bringing the sheet closer for a better look.

Leonhard came to him, looking over his shoulder. "What is it, Elder Brother?" he asked, seeing the man's bewildered expression.

Siegfried shook his head. "It almost looks like someone's plans for an invention," he responded slowly, "but of what manner it is, I couldn't say. This almost looks like Herr Kaiba's original duel disk prototypes." He pointed to an image of a round, red and white object. "And this . . . this resembles those beams of light." He traced a line with his finger to the other side of the paper, where there was a sketch of a greenish pillar.

Leonhard felt a shiver run up his spine as he looked at the drawing of the latter. He hated seeing that beam. It would always remind him of when he had almost killed Siegfried. "But what does it mean?" he exclaimed.

Siegfried leaned back, rubbing his forehead. He supposed that now he would have to call Seto Kaiba and ask him if he knew what it meant, though he certainly was not looking forward to the communication. And if Seto was just as baffled, what then?

He studied the paper again. Were they trying to say that the Orichalcos light could have a connection with the duel disk? There was a line drawn from the beam to the duel disk, followed by some strange writing. And though Siegfried had learned quite a few different languages that he could speak quite fluently—including English, Japanese, and even the difficult Icelandic—the script before him was completely foreign. He could not think of any other written languages that resembled this at all.

A gasp from the Valkyrie brought him and Leonhard both to attention. Immediately they looked at her and saw that she had opened her eyes. Her breath was coming heavily and painfully, and she gripped a handful of the quilt as she looked frantically to Siegfried. With her other hand she reached out, as if trying to grab for him. "Master," she choked out, blood coming to her lips.

Siegfried quickly set the paper down and came back to the bedside, taking the woman's hand. "You're badly hurt," he told her quietly. "You shouldn't try to speak."

Her shaking fingers closed weakly around his hand as she looked up at him desperately. "Doom Reborn . . . has to be stopped," she rasped. "Their latest plan will . . . it will come to fruition . . . if they are not stopped immediately!" She struggled to rise, but found the effort to be too much. Growing dizzy, she slumped back into the pillows.

Siegfried looked at her with concern. He wanted to ask her about the paper—and about the way she had addressed him—but he could see how weakened she was and he was certain that it would not be wise to encourage her to keep talking. "They will be stopped," he tried to reassure her. "Rest, and it will be done." He could see Leonhard out of the corner of his eye, watching in bemusement.

The Valkyrie shook her head. "The . . . paper," she managed to say with effort. "They're going to . . . they're going to combine . . . the Orichalcos with . . . Solid Vision." Her grip on Siegfried's hand started to loosen. She stared blankly up at the ceiling for what seemed to be quite some time, her breathing labored, as she tried to gather enough strength to tell the rest. Siegfried had to know what was being planned. But she felt her energy slipping away the more she tried to hold onto it.

_This should not have happened,_ she thought in frustration. _I should have been able to win that battle. What went wrong? Why was I defeated? _Her older sisters had been worried about her taking on the mission, but she had insisted. She would do her part, just as they would do theirs. But now after being so gravely injured, the only thing she had managed to do was to stumble to their master's home with one very baffling piece of paper taken from the office of Doom Reborn's leader.

Siegfried's eyes narrowed as the woman revealed this strange bit of information. Such a move made absolutely no sense at all! Why would Doom Reborn be interested in doing that? Did they believe it would make the Orichalcos stronger? But how could that be? They believed the Orichalcos to be an ancient magical force. Would they not think it would be stronger than a man-made creation such as Solid Vision?

The injured one struggled again to speak. "If . . . if they fail with Kaiba's version, they . . . they will come for the original. . . . Your version, Master. . . ." After saying this, the Valkyrie's eyes closed and she slipped into unconsciousness, leaving the two brothers highly confused.

* * *

It was as Raphael was getting up to find a damp cloth in the kitchen that he discovered their latest uninvited guest. He stared in disbelief at the mint-haired man who was kneeling on the floor and allowing Alexander to cry into his lap. At first he could not believe this and was certain that he was hallucinating. Then he did not want to believe it. Dartz had been reported as dead. Could he not stay dead, and away from the ones whom he had hurt? That was the only thing he could do out of courtesy. Unconsciously the blonde man clenched a fist. 

And in any case, what on earth was Dartz doing there? Raphael supposed that he had entered through the open front door, but why? And why was he letting the winged creature cling to him? Raphael's eyes narrowed more. Maybe Dartz had sent Alexander. Maybe everything had been Dartz's idea. He could have found some bizarre way of creating the being with the Orichalcos, perhaps. Maybe it was all a setup to confuse and torment them. Usually Raphael was the most levelheaded of the bikers, but when it came to Dartz, his imagination and anger would both often run wild.

Valon looked up. "Alister's pulse is kinda slow," he said with a frown, and then gasped. "Holy . . .!" His blue eyes widened to twice their size and he leaped up, pointing his index finger accusingly at Dartz. "What the heck are you doing here?" he yelled. "Shouldn't you be burning in Hell or somethin'?"

Dartz met Valon's gaze calmly, his golden eyes appearing endless and filled with tales of all the terrible things he had seen over ten millennia. Then he looked up at Raphael, who looked as if he was struggling so very hard not to lose his temper. This was a confrontation that he had known in his heart would come someday. What was he to say to them? Should he even address the past at all, or should he focus on the problem at hand? He glanced down at the odd creature that had gone to him for comfort.

"I came too late," he said finally, subconsciously having gently laid a hand on Alexander's head. "Not that I could have convinced him to stop this madness anyway. Only Alister was able to convince him that this wasn't what he wanted." At least that was what he assumed from what he knew about Alexander, which was not actually that much. But since Alexander held Alister in such immense high esteem, it made sense that Alister would be the only one who could make the creature see the truth.

Raphael regarded Dartz with a look of ice. "How do you know him?" he demanded. "Did you fill his mind with nonsense and then send him here?" Dartz's actions of apparent comfort toward Alexander were not lost on Raphael, and he wondered what kind of trick the man was pulling now. Had he tried to make Alexander think that he was a friend, as he had done to Raphael and the others? The blonde man would not be surprised.

Dartz's eyes narrowed. "No, I did not," he answered. "He came because he wanted to come. I had nothing to do with it." He glanced down as Alexander looked up. The creature's eyes were glistening with sadness and several unshed tears, and his wings were drooping onto the floor. The Atlantean felt something as he looked into those perplexed and horrified eyes, but he was not certain what. Perhaps it was some sort of pity.

"Alister didn't want to die," Alexander whispered, gripping a handful of Dartz's long-sleeved dress shirt. "But I tried to kill him. . . ."

Dartz sighed. "Well, I tried to warn you," he answered. "But you were certain that you knew the truth."

Alexander leaned against Dartz sadly. "I don't understand," he said softly. What had made Alister change his mind? How long had things been this way? And what if Alister died now, even though he had not wanted to? Alexander would know that it had been his fault. He could not make Alister happy. And even if he thought Alister would be happier without him, he could not kill himself. If Alister lived and Alexander died, then Alister would feel as though a part of his very heart and soul was missing.

"You don't understand?" Valon snapped. "What's there to understand?" He clenched a fist furiously, but then froze at the sound of a weak, rasping voice.

"He . . . he didn't mean to cause trouble, Valon."

All eyes turned to the couch, where Alister had opened his eyes and was watching the scene. The gray orbs looked clouded over and glazed, and he looked as though he was still in pain but trying not to show it; still, he was awake. That was the most important thing. He had not died, and most likely he would not.

Alexander's eyes brightened joyously. Raphael relaxed slightly. And Valon reached out, grabbing hold of Alister's tank top.

"He didn't mean to cause trouble!" the Australian cried indignantly. "Oh, of course he didn't! I mean, just 'cause he was trying' to kill you in cold blood doesn't mean he wanted trouble!" He twisted the material in his hand. How could Alister stay so calm? He was the one who had almost died. Valon did not feel the least bit calm. It seemed to him that Alister was trying to justify Alexander's actions, and he did not understand that at all.

Raphael shook his head, reaching to wrench Valon's hand away from Alister's shirt. "How are you feeling?" he asked the redhead. He did not feel that Alister was actually trying to justify what Alexander had done, but to explain it. Raphael could tell that Alister seemed to have a connection to the bewildering creature, and even though he himself did not, he truly did know that Alexander was not at all what he would appear to be if one only looked at the fact that he had tried to kill Alister. The truth behind Alexander's behavior was very complex and even tragic.

Alister grunted and shrugged. "I'll live," he replied, instead of his standard "I'm fine." He glanced over at Dartz, feeling just as confused as his friends were as to why the golden-eyed man was there. How was he there at all? He was supposed to be dead, as far as any of them knew, but in any case, why would he care what Alexander did? Alister had been regaining consciousness for the past few moments and he had overheard most of Dartz's conversation with the others, including when Dartz had told Alexander that he had tried to warn him. That puzzled Alister as well.

Alexander smiled shakily. "I'm glad," he said softly. Slowly he stood up, watching Alister while Valon regarded him suspiciously and looked ready to lunge if Alexander made a move to step forward. The creature did not seem to care about that. Instead he tilted his head to the side. "Alister . . . you really do want to live?" he asked. He wanted to be certain that he completely understood this. If Alister wanted to live, then Alexander had decided that he would devote himself to making certain that the redhead stayed alive. Undoubtedly Alister would not especially want protection, but that did not mean that Alexander could not keep a silent watch over him.

Alister eased himself up slightly, despite the protesting of his aching body. "Yes," he confirmed, again looking at Alexander with firm, gray eyes. "I do want to live." He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he wanted to say more on the subject, and then decided that it would be good to make the situation perfectly clear. "I have . . . people to live for, Alexander. They would miss me if I died." Both Raphael and Valon turned to look at him—Valon in surprise that Alister would actually acknowledge this, and Raphael with a slight smile, glad that Alister finally understood.

Alexander bit his lip, still looking confused. "But . . . what about your feelings of pain? You were so worried that you were going to kill them . . . and you wanted to die so that wouldn't be a worry anymore. . . ." He could still feel those agonized emotions from the past, and Alister's silent pleas for death. Those pleas always made his heart ache so much. But it hurt even worse to know that when he had tried to grant Alister's wish, it had no longer been what Alister wanted. And if Alexander had succeeded in killing him, there would not have been any way to fix it.

Alister nodded slowly. "I know," he replied quietly. "I wanted to die then, more than anything else. But . . . that's past now. I was able to overcome the Orichalcos, and then I didn't have any desire to die." He looked at Alexander kindly. The being truly was so much like a child, so innocent and loving. It was obvious to Alister that Alexander had never understood what the full consequences of his actions would be. In the mind of such a devoted creature, the only thing that had mattered was that Alister wanted to die. That wish had to be fulfilled. Because of Alexander's childlike nature, he had not realized that killing him would only cause pain—not only for Alister, but also for his friends.

And he had not understood that it was not his place to determine who lived and who died. By taking upon himself the name "The Angel of Death," Alexander had actually demonstrated his true nature. Angels were generally seen as kind, compassionate entities, and that was exactly how Alexander had felt about killing Alister—that it would be the kind, loving thing to do. Alister found it quite sad.

Now the redhead looked into Alexander's ice-blue eyes. "Come here," he said then, much to Valon's dismay.

"Are you crazy?" the brunette said to Alister in disbelief. "You dunno what he'd do!"

Raphael laid a hand on Valon's shoulder. "I don't think he'll do anything now," he determined, glancing over at Dartz. The turquoise-haired man was now standing as well, and he nodded in agreement. Alexander was really quite a harmless creature, and he would never attack Alister when he knew that the man did not want it done.

Alexander gazed at Alister in bewilderment. Why did Alister want him to come? Was he going to strike Alexander for trying to kill him? But no . . . Alister was not like that. Alexander thought he could sense that Alister was not angry, but he did not know any longer how reliable was what he thought. Slowly he took a step forward, then another, until he was at the couch. Then he knelt on the floor, looking up at Alister curiously.

He cringed when he saw Alister lifting a hand and reaching out to him. Alexander actually could not feel physical pain in general and it would have to be something absolutely extreme and graphic for him to do so—but if Alister hit him, that would be more of an agonizing torment than a thousand attacks from the Leviathan and a thousand times of having his wing shredded and crushed. And he would feel it. Most assuredly he would feel it.

The hand came down gently on Alexander's head. Again the strange boy looked up, this time in awe, as Alister slowly and kindly stroked his fiery red hair. Alister saw him as a child with a mental age of possibly around seven—the same age that Miruko had been when he had perished. He pitied the poor thing very much, and even though they were polar opposites, he saw something about Alexander that was the same. And that was what he had noticed before—that they had both tried in their misguided and confused ways to administer justice. Alexander, in a way, was a lost soul—just as were Alister and his friends.

Valon blinked in surprise, crossing his arms. _I wasn't expecting that,_ he thought to himself. And yet, what had he been expecting? He should have known that Alister would not harm the being. He glanced up at Raphael questioningly. The blonde man merely grunted and turned away, allowing Alister to have his moment of showing kindness to Alexander.

Raphael was not that surprised by Alister's actions. His friend did understand Alexander's true soul. And Alister could never hurt anything so childlike. It would go against Alister's own nature to do so.

Instead Raphael turned his attention to Dartz, narrowing his sapphire blue eyes. "I want some answers," he growled. "I think we've got a right to know why you came here, and what kinda connection you've got with Alexander." Alister had called the creature by that name twice now, so Raphael had decided that he might as well use it too. Once the trio was alone again, he determined that he would ask Alister how he had known to address the entity as such.

Dartz frowned at his former warrior. "I don't really believe that my connection with Alexander is any of your business," he replied, confirming the creature's name. "And as for why I came, I already explained that." He half-turned away. "I said I had come to stop Alexander."

Valon turned to frown at the man as well. "Yeah? Well, that sounds just a mite fishy comin' from you, Ponytail," he retorted. "We kinda don't believe you, not after what you did."

"And you don't have any reason to believe me," Dartz said wearily. He then thought it over and added dryly, "But if you don't intend to put any stock in what I tell you, then why bother to even ask me?" He watched Valon find himself at a loss for words after trying to stumble over an answer. Then the Atlantean looked to Raphael, who grunted.

"You were s'pposed to be dead, too," Valon said suddenly.

Dartz regarded him with a bored expression. "That I was," he replied, "but do I look dead to you?" He glanced over at Alexander, seeing him getting up. Perhaps now they would be able to leave. Dartz would only be more than happy to. He certainly did not belong there, and Raphael and Valon would likely need time to digest everything that had happened before they could start to think about accepting Alexander. Even so, Dartz had the strange feeling that Alexander would continue to live with him all the time. He could not say whether he liked that idea or not.

"Come, Alexander," he said then.

Alexander looked over at him and nodded. He was smiling again, and he looked genuinely happy. After hugging Alister—and making sure to be gentle—the creature came over to his adopted father. As usual, his wings were spread out in his bliss.

Liu purred happily, rubbing against both newcomers before hopping onto the couch beside Alister. Raphael shook his head in disbelief, while Valon's mouth dropped open. Honestly, that cat was friendly to everyone.

"Just tell me one thing," Raphael said then. "Why haven't we ever seen Alexander before?"

Alexander snuggled Dartz from behind, then looked over at the bikers. "Because the Orichalcos took me instead of Alister," he announced simply. "Then I was all alone and trapped in a bubble . . . and the Leviathan was mean." Dartz tensed at the embrace, but Alexander paid no heed. He smiled proudly. "Dartz set me free!" Then he teleported out with the Atlantean, leaving behind a large, white feather. Immediately Liu rushed to pounce upon it, while the bikers all exchanged looks.

"Somehow," Raphael muttered, "I don't think we've seen the last of either of them." Alister and Valon concurred.

* * *

Far away, a long-haired figure watched a large city from atop a hill. Its dark blue hair blew out gently in the wind, brushing against the soft, yet serious face. Matching navy bangs swept across the eyes, which were also blue. As it observed, a large turquoise seal appeared over the entire city. Screams of confusion could be heard from below, but there was nothing that could be done. People ran desperately, trying to escape the ominous presence, but at all edges of the city was an unseen barrier. No one could get out, and no one could go in. Then the screams were silenced and the seal slowly vanished. 

The entity clenched a gloved fist tightly, feelings of anger and revulsion coursing through its veins. This was outrageous. So Doom Reborn had truly done it then. Their efforts to stop them had failed. There was no point going down into the city. Everyone within had lost their souls.

Slowly and painstakingly the figure turned away and stepped forward, favoring its right leg. This was far from over. Doom Reborn had won the battle, but they would not win the war.


	6. The Dream

**Chapter Five**

Seto hung up the phone in disgust, slumping back into his chair and raising a hand to rub at his forehead. He had just finished talking to Siegfried, and he was not pleased with the results. The German had told him about the strange paper he had come into possession of, but Seto could not figure out what it meant. And he had become even less pleased when Siegfried had reported what the Valkyrie had said about Doom Reborn going to combine the Orichalcos with the Solid Vision system. It all sounded like nonsense to him, and there was nothing he would like better than to decide it could not happen, but at this point he knew that would be foolish.

_I hate to say it,_ he thought to himself, _but it's really too bad Dartz is dead. He might be able to shed some light on what's going on and how it would be possible for them to use the Orichalcos stones like that. Even if I don't want to believe that it's some trinket from ten thousand years ago, I know that it has some kind of hypnotic properties. Combined with Solid Vision, it could be disastrous._

"What's wrong, big brother?"

He started, looking up into Mokuba's wide and worried blue-gray eyes. He had been so caught up in his reverie that he had not heard his brother approaching at all. Now he shook his head with a sigh. "Nothing," he responded.

Mokuba frowned. "Come on, Seto, I know it's gotta be something," he said firmly. "You looked really upset when I came in. . . ." He swallowed, wondering if Seto had learned something bad in relation to the company. He dearly hoped not. Seto had been spending such long hours struggling to get KaibaCorp's stocks back up after the fiasco with the Duel Monsters had began. All of the gaming companies' stocks had gone down then, and Seto was just relieved that things were finally starting to level out. "Does it have something to do with that robbery in Hamburg?" the boy asked suddenly.

Seto blinked in surprise and looked over at him, then nodded slowly. "In a way," he answered. Now it seemed all the more likely that Doom Reborn had been responsible.

Mokuba sighed, sitting down on the nearby couch. "That was really weird," he said quietly. "Who would do that?"

Seto growled. "That's what I'm going to find out," he declared firmly. _And if it was Doom Reborn, I'll show no mercy._

He turned his attention to the monitor as a chime signaled the arrival of new mail. His eyes narrowed immensely when he saw it was from Pegasus. "Oh great," he muttered as he clicked on it, "what does that Toon-obsessed has-been want now?" Of course Mokuba came over to see as well, and Seto let him.

Hello, Kaiba-boy!

It's really been such a long time since we've had a chat.

Why don't you ever come to see me? Don't you like me

anymore? It really does get so lonesome here in my

little castle. But oh well! Down to business. I found out two

very interesting things that I think even you will appreciate.

First, there's an entire city over in Germany where everyone

has been found laying comatose! That's quite suspicious, don't

you think so? It sounds like the work of the Orichalcos to me.

Also, there's been a strange, winged creature flying over my

Domino Canyons cabin lately! I had Kemo track him down to

another nearby cabin, and guess what he found? . . . Have you

made a guess yet? Do come and see me, and I'll let you know

then if you guessed right! I'm still at my cabin right now, so you

can easily be here within the hour. I'm sure you're online at this very

moment, and that you're reading this with that irritated frown on

your face! I'll be waiting for you, Kaiba-boy. Do hurry, won't you?

Time waits for no man!

Seto suddenly felt ten times more irritated that he had a moment before. So now he had to go see Pegasus and play guessing games with him? That was not how he had wanted to spend the day. And he could not care less if Pegasus had gained some strange new stalker. But what he did care about was what had been said about the German city. Pegasus was right—that did sound suspicious. And too much so for comfort. Seto would need to investigate into that.

Mokuba read over the email again, his dark eyes wide. "That's nuts!" he exclaimed to the incident Pegasus had written about. "Are you going to go, Seto?" Suddenly he wondered if Leonhard was alright. But surely he was. He was probably either in Hamburg or in the von Schroider castle that was outside the city limits. Pegasus had not mentioned what city had been affected, but if it had been Hamburg, the boy had a feeling that Pegasus would have said so.

Seto stood up. "It looks like I don't have any choice," he grumbled. "It's just possible that Pegasus may have something important to say, so I can't ignore this. Besides, maybe he'll have some more information on that city." He closed his laptop and picked it up to take it with him. He was not planning to invite Mokuba to come along, but if his brother wanted to, it was alright with him—as long as he stayed away from Pegasus. And he was certain Mokuba would comply with that.

Mokuba shuddered, biting his lip. Reading the information about the entire city's population losing their souls disturbed him extremely. How was that even possible? Were they not only able to steal souls if they won in duels? "Seto?" he asked quaveringly.

Seto looked down at him. "What is it?" he returned.

Mokuba looked at the floor. "Is . . . is it possible that Doom Reborn could do something awful like that?" he said softly. He dreaded the answer. And yet even if it was not Doom Reborn, it would take a lot of power to send a large city into unconsciousness. So, really, it would be someone dangerous to deal with either way, and it really did not matter if it happened to be Doom Reborn. But Mokuba still would prefer to not deal with them again, anyway.

Seto shook his head, turning to walk to the door. "You're asking the wrong person, Mokuba," he said then. "I don't know. I've tried not to believe in that sort of thing, so I didn't calculate any kind of power levels that it's reported to have."

Mokuba hurried after him. "Yeah," he said softly, "I know, but . . . you've had to start believing in it now, haven't you, big brother?"

Seto grunted. "I don't want to," was all that he would reply as they headed out the front door. _And that's an understatement,_ he thought to himself.

* * *

Armina knocked frantically on the door to the von Schroider castle. Her heart was racing. If what she had been hearing was true, then that meant that Dritte must be inside. But how badly was she hurt? The reports she had been hearing were not favorable, and she was deeply concerned. The final battle had begun. They could not afford to lose any of their ranks. Or at least that was what Erma would say, she thought to herself with a rueful smirk as one of the maids finally let her in. Erma was always thinking about the greater good and often came off seeming cold and detached. But Armina knew that Erma genuinely cared about the others. 

The maid blinked at her. "Oh, you're Meister Siegfried's secretary, aren't you?" she said in sudden realization.

Armina nodded curtly. "I came to see him about an urgent matter," she declared.

"Well, I believe he's occupied right now," the maid replied slowly. "Some strange woman arrived on the doorstep. . . ."

Armina walked past her. "I know," she said smoothly. "That's the urgent matter."

The maid blinked in surprise and then hurried after her to show her the way to the room where the Valkyrie was. Armina accepted this calmly. What she was concerned about now was how to reveal to Siegfried what her true identity and purpose here was. Would he believe her? Would he be angry at the deception? And would he understand the urgent need to stop Doom Reborn?

Armina thought back to the email she had received from Clarimonde. She still did not understand the statement "Lead Master to victory," nor how she would make it come to pass. But she imagined that she would need to decipher it very soon.

She drew her breath in sharply when they reached the room. The maid left her then, and she went in, gazing at the ill Valkyrie in the bed. Siegfried was sitting in a chair next to the bed, looking exhausted. Leonhard was next to him, his hazel eyes shining with worry. The boy looked up as Armina entered, blinking in surprise.

"Armina! What are you doing here?" Leonhard exclaimed. Siegfried came to attention, looking over questioningly.

"I wasn't expecting to see you tonight, Fraulein," he said quietly, not able to help wondering again what had gotten her so upset earlier. Now she appeared perfectly calm and collected—except for the emotions flickering through her eyes. "As you can see, we have a guest tonight." He gestured to the unconscious woman in the bed. "And a very curious guest at that."

Armina walked past the armor, which had been moved into a small stack near the wall, and surveyed the Valkyrie again. "How badly was she hurt?" she wanted to know. If Clarimonde's dire predictions were true, and all of them were being attacked, what were the chances that all of them would make it through? And . . . if Erma truly was dead, the leadership position would fall to her, Armina. She did not know that she was ready for that. But of course, if the responsibility did fall to her, she would do her best to make certain all went according to plan.

Siegfried sighed. "The doctor was here not that long ago," he replied. "He believes she will recover, though he said it could take some time." He blinked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Pardon, but do you know her?" He had noticed her reaction to the other woman, and it seemed rather curious to him, almost as if recognition had shone through her deep blue eyes. Actually, when he thought of it, the Valkyrie and Armina both had the same sapphire color to their irises.

Armina hesitated for a moment. She was still reluctant to speak of these matters, but that was what she had come for—well, that and checking on the condition of the injured. And so she nodded slowly, pulling up the quilt better around the unconscious Valkyrie. "Yes," she admitted quietly. "This is Dritte . . . my sister."

Leonhard gaped, not sure what to say. He supposed now that he thought about it, and could see them standing side by side, a certain resemblance was indeed obvious. But it seemed such a peculiar thing—that Armina's sister would come to the home of Armina's employer. How had such a coincidence come to pass?

When he looked to Siegfried to see his reaction, he was surprised to see that his elder brother had slumped back, looking astounded. But then when the man spoke, the reason for his immense shock became clear.

"The Valkyrie cards that Pegasus created were based upon the versions from Wagner's operas," Siegfried mused, sitting up straight again and looking Armina in the eyes. "There, they were nine sisters, while their counterparts in mythology may or may not all be related." He frowned slightly, somewhat overwhelmed by what this seemed to mean. Had another Valkyrie been masquerading as his secretary for the last few months? Or was all of this one massive misunderstanding? Perhaps Dritte had been attending some sort of costume party and that was why she had been dressed as one of the Duel Monster Valkyries. Though Siegfried was willing to admit that the thought of her randomly getting injured and then randomly coming to the castle made a lot less sense than the thought of her having been in a battle that was most certainly not random, and then coming here on purpose. She had called him Master, and had acted as if she knew him.

Armina nodded, reaching back to undo the clasp around part of her long aquamarine hair. Instantly it swished back into its normal position, with fluffy bangs coming to rest on either side of her forehead. Slowly and precisely she then removed her glasses, accentuating her blue eyes. "My real name is Schwertleite," she announced quietly, "and both Dritte and I are part of the nine."

Leonhard was speechless. This was so much to take in all at once. He had known Armina since she had first started to work for Siegfried, and never once had he imagined that she was one of the legendary Valkyries. And he had not thought that Siegfried had felt any different. After all, he certainly would not have a reason.

Now the businessman smiled calmly. "I always felt that there was something quite unique about you," he remarked, looking for all the world as though he was not surprised at all. "I simply was never able to determine exactly what it was." He had decided that he had been stunned long enough and that it was time to fully embrace this bizarre series of events. He supposed that, since Duel Monsters were still all over the world, it was not so extremely odd that the Valkyries would have come.

Then a new thought occurred to him. "If I may ask, what was it that upset you so badly earlier? Did it have something to do with all of this?"

Schwertleite hesitated again, then nodded. She knew she could no longer harbor any doubts about revealing the truth. They would never be able to begin fixing the problem if she did not speak. "My sisters and I have been fighting Doom Reborn, which has been causing many problems for both your world and ours. I decided to go incognito as your secretary because I knew they might target you. . . . Then today I got an email from Erste, who was using the alias Clarimonde." As she proceeded to tell the contents of the email, she could see that the two brothers were both surprised again.

"So . . . all of your sisters are in trouble?" Leonhard was aghast. He could fully understand what the turquoise-haired Valkyrie's pain would be in such a situation. He felt the same pain whenever Siegfried was hurt.

"Yes," Schwertleite said quietly. "And probably all of them have ended up like Dritte . . . or worse." She could not forget how Erste had said that she was seriously wounded. The entire email had been filled with a sense of despair, and Schwertleite did not doubt that if Erste had not been able to get treated properly, she could be dead.

Siegfried narrowed his eyes. "We will find them," he resolved. Doom Reborn was greatly annoying him, with the way they kept appearing in his affairs. It was long past the time that the organization should have ceased to exist. There was no telling what calamities they would cause the longer they remained in power, especially not when considering the horror stories he had heard about the original Doom.

Schwertleite smiled weakly. "I know you are brave, Master," she proclaimed. "But it will not be easy." Next to impossible, was more likely. The Valkyries had scattered all over the world, dealing with the various branches of Doom Reborn that had begun to spring up in many different nations. This new organization appeared to be more dangerous than its parent in many ways. Not only were they more ruthless and cruel, but they seemed to have more of an influence over many different peoples and races. They were growing in large numbers almost daily.

Leonhard bit his lip. "Dritte said something about Doom Reborn coming after Siegfried because he invented the first Solid Vision system," he spoke up worriedly. "Why would they do this! What do they think they could do with gaming technology?" He was almost afraid to learn the answer.

Schwertleite was about to reply when a flickering glow bathed the room in extra light before plunging them into complete darkness. Instantly she tensed. This was most likely not a natural blackout. They were probably about to be invaded. Quickly, in the privacy of the darkened room, she transformed into her Valkyrie armor and gripped her sword. They would not be able to stay here. They would have to find a way to leave, but she worried over how they would move Dritte.

Siegfried frowned. "What is going on here?" he wondered. "It isn't storming outside." He wanted to think that it was a broken fuse, but he had the feeling that it was not.

Slowly the door opened.

* * *

Raphael shook his head, watching as Valon bent over Alister, who had fallen asleep again on the couch. The redhead's skin was still pale, and he still felt weakened, but Raphael was certain that he would be alright. Valon's obvious concern both gently amused and touched him, most especially when he recalled how poorly the Australian and Alister had gotten along during Doom. They still had many disagreements, but they were slowly starting to better understand each other and had finally admitted, at least to themselves, that they did care about each other. 

"You're hovering," he remarked in the silence.

Valon started, then glared. "No, I'm not!" he snapped, straightening up. "I was just checkin' to see if he was breathing." Which was true, but Valon had been very impatient for Alister to wake up again and had been frequently going to see how he was doing. "I mean, c'mon Raph, he got knocked up pretty bad by that crazy thing!" And Valon was still angry about it. He felt that he was justified. After all, he did not really take kindly to odd creatures that broke into the house and tried to kill his friends.

Raphael grunted. "He'll be fine, Valon. He just needs to rest." He watched Liu leap up by Alister and purr. The redhead did not stir, still obviously quite deeply asleep.

Valon glared at the cat. "You traitor!" he scolded, remembering how she had rubbed against Alexander and Dartz. Liu only continued to purr. Valon rolled his eyes.

Raphael sighed and sat down in a chair. "You know that she's friendly with everyone," he said flatly, even though he was not extremely pleased himself that his cat had rubbed against someone whom he considered to be an enemy. Dartz had hurt them all in drastic ways, and yet Alexander and Liu both seemed to adore him. Raphael did not understand why, but he was certain that Alexander would someday discover that the Atlantean cared nothing about him. Then the strange creature would have nowhere to go—unless he came there.

The blonde frowned. Where had that thought came from? That was a strange thing to think of without warning. He supposed it was true, however. And he did not particularly relish the thought of Alexander moving in.

Abruptly Valon broke into his thoughts. "Well, you of all people can't be happy about her being chummy with that bloke!" he retorted.

Raphael growled, turning away. "I don't want to talk about it."

Valon frowned at him. "Sometimes you're as bad as Alister!" he remarked.

Raphael gripped his upper arms and refused to answer. That was still a sensitive subject for him. He never discussed it with anyone and instead kept it all inside—the pain, the anger, the hatred. He was certain, after all, that he could handle it. But so many such feelings were as a time bomb waiting to go off. And assuredly, if he continued to meet up with Dartz, all of that pent-up fury and hurt would break free.

Valon sighed now and turned on the television, making certain to keep the volume on Mute. As he turned on the closed captioning and realized he was watching the news, his blue eyes suddenly opened wide. "Holy . . .!" he gasped, leaning forward.

Raphael blinked, turning to look at him again. "What is it?"

Valon pointed at the screen. "They're talkin' about a whole city of knocked out people!" he exclaimed. "And they can't wake any of 'em up!"

Immediately Raphael perked up, his eyes narrowed. As he looked at the TV screen, the words _Breaking News_ suddenly flashed and the reporters looked grave. Quickly he looked to the closed captioning running across the bottom of the screen.

"We have just received word that this bizarre phenomenon has happened again," the anchorwoman was saying. "This first incident took place in a German city. Now it's happened in a coastal Japanese town—the exact same thing. And nearby motorists claim that they saw a strange and foreboding green symbol in the sky, hovering directly over the city."

Raphael clenched his fists. Valon just stared.

"How could something like that happen!" the Australian burst out, gesturing to the TV set. "This is crazy! We weren't able to do stuff like that!"

Raphael shook his head. "I think," he growled, "we need to find Dartz and get some answers." Dartz may or may not be involved in Doom Reborn, but Raphael was certain that the golden-eyed man would know what was going on. And Raphael would not rest until he knew as well. This madness had to be stopped.

* * *

Dartz snapped off the television in disgust. Chris had come running to him with the news as soon as Alexander had teleported in with him, and Dartz was highly displeased and angry. His feelings had only increased as he had watched the news coverage of the two incidents. And he was confused as well. He had never been able to do such things with the Orichalcos. How many special powers did it have that he had never known about? And how had Doom Reborn learned? 

Chris looked up at him worriedly. "What are we going to do, Father?" she asked.

Dartz shook his head. "I don't know," he muttered, slumping back against the couch. For one thing, they needed to find out where Doom Reborn's new headquarters was located. Branches were appearing all over the globe, but the main one was a very well-kept secret. Dartz was growing annoyed. Every now and then he was still trying to buy stock in Paradius, but he still could not find the company. There was not even a website that he could go to, but that was a clever move on the part of Doom Reborn. They were doing everything in their power to make certain that they would not be traced. Dartz had done the same when he had owned Paradius.

Alexander, who was stretched out on his stomach and had laid his hands on Dartz's lap, looked up at him. "We need to stop them," he said softly. "They might hurt Alister." His wings drooped as he tried to sort out the many questions going through his mind. What was life? What was death? Why did he exist? Was he not supposed to make Alister happy? He no longer knew how he would do that.

Dartz shook his head. "Now why would they do that?" he asked flatly. Alexander was even more confusing now that he was sobered from realizing that Alister did not want to die. Dartz was not certain what the creature would do now, though he was obviously happy and even awed that Alister had not been angry with him. He had also noticed that Alexander had been more hesitant about snuggling, which he really did not mind.

Now Alexander shrugged helplessly. "Well . . . maybe they're angry because Alister doesn't believe in their goals," he suggested. "Didn't they get really mad at the people who stopped the other Doom?" He sat up, worry evident in his eyes. He could not let those people hurt Alister, or Alister's friends either. And though he was not certain what he could do, that did not change the fact that he felt the overwhelming urge that he had to do something to protect them. If Alister wanted to live, then Alexander could devote himself to that. And he knew Alister would be broken if anything happened to Valon or Raphael, so they would have to be protected as well.

Dartz narrowed his eyes. He knew that what Alexander said was true. It still outraged him, what he had later learned about the reason behind Duke's servitude to Doom Reborn. Slowly he stood up, knowing that nothing would get done if he just stayed there.

"It seems to me," he said slowly, "that Doom Reborn must have bases near the cities that were attacked. After all, it must take quite a bit of energy to generate Seals that large."

Chris bit her lip. "So . . . is that where you're going, Father?"

Dartz nodded. "Hopefully I'll find some answers." He looked at her firmly. "You and Ironheart should stay here." He was about to add that Alexander should as well, but the redhead leaped up too.

"I want to come!" he said firmly. "I have to help." He looked at Dartz pleadingly. "I could be useful, and I want to stop the mean people."

Dartz felt frustrated. He wanted to tell him that it would be better if he stayed home too, but then shook his head and decided not to even try to protest. It was very hard to argue with the innocent being who only wanted to be helpful.

At that moment there was a knock on the door. Dartz frowned over at it, and Ironheart crossed the room to answer it. This seemed very odd, as they did not have visitors. Deciding that a precaution would be a good thing, Ironheart looked through the peephole. Then he started in surprise.

Dartz raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Ironheart moved to open the door. "Maximillion Pegasus and Seto Kaiba," he announced.

* * *

_He was so frightened . . . so cold and alone, and his head was aching. His grandparents had been taken away for some strange reason, and the men who had taken them had been mean. One of them had pushed him into the desk. He remembered hitting his head, but not much else until now._

_He worried about what they were doing to his grandparents, and he worried about being alone. He had never been alone before, at least, certainly not like this. And he felt so dizzy. . . . Shivering, he curled into a ball._

_Suddenly he felt that there was someone else in the room. His blood went cold. "Who's there?" he whispered, even as he felt himself being lifted up. Immediately he gave a cry and tried to pull away, but then he was held close to something warm. And the touch was not something dark and chilling, but rather warm and loving. He shuddered again and gripped a handful of the person's clothes. "Who are you?"_

_He was held close. "I'm here to keep you safe," a soft voice replied. "I love you . . . Alister, I love you so much. . . . I live only for you."_

_The four-year-old child snuggled, closing his eyes. He did feel safe with this being. "Are my grandparents okay?" he asked softly._

_There was a pause. "I . . . I don't know," came the reply. "But I'll stay here with you until they come home."_

_He considered this. "Okay," he agreed, snuggling now._

Alister's eyes flew open. Slowly he tried to focus on the room around him, and on Valon and Raphael, who were talking to each other. What was that, that he had been dreaming? It seemed so realistic, as if it had been a memory instead of a dream. But he did not remember what it could have been. He had been a small child in the dream, and he had apparently been in Sweden, visiting his father's grandparents. Those things had happened in real life, but the dream's events puzzled him. If that had happened, why did he not remember any of it?

Noticing that he was awake, Valon perked up. "Hey! It's about time you woke up!" he cried.

"How are you feeling?" Raphael asked, coming over.

Alister slowly sat up. _Confused,_ he thought to himself. "Fine," he said aloud. "I'm fine."


	7. The Approach of Armageddon

**Chapter Six**

Seto came to attention as Ironheart opened the door. He had never met Dartz's father before, but upon seeing the man's Atlantis-style clothing, he determined that Pegasus perhaps was not insane for proclaiming that he had found out that Dartz lived here. Really, he found himself hoping that was true. Dartz could be useful, as he had thought to himself earlier. And maybe Ironheart would be able to help as well. Seto remembered Téa telling him how helpful the man had been when she and Atemu had met him.

"Can I help you?" Ironheart asked. He knew who Seto and Pegasus were, but that was because he and Chris had silently watched over them and the others during the Doom era. Knowing that at that time Seto had held one of the Legendary Dragon cards, they had hoped that he would be able to help bring about the end of the organization and of Dartz's madness, and so they had watched him.

"We're here to see Dartz," Seto said flatly before Pegasus could speak up.

Ironheart nodded. "Of course," he agreed. "Come in." He held open the door and allowed them to step into the parlor. "Might I inquire as to how you found out that he lives here?" he asked now, observing as they gazed around the room. The entire house had a certain Atlantean motif, so that the residents would feel at home. Chris had sewn the draperies and various throws, and Ironheart had carved small statues and designs into the doors. Mixed in with these things were certain modern elements, such as a computer and the kitchen appliances.

Pegasus smiled now, turning his gaze back to Ironheart. He was quite fascinated by the decor, but he knew that there were other things to think of at this point. "I saw a certain creature flying around my property, and he would always come up here to land," he reported. "Naturally I was curious."

Dartz frowned disapprovingly as he came over, with Alexander following him closely. "Yes, well, I trust you've heard that curiosity killed the cat?" he remarked.

Pegasus was undaunted. "Why, of course," he replied, and then noticed Alexander. "Oh! There's the boy now." He gazed at him, more intrigued than before. _He looks like any normal human, except for those wings,_ he told himself silently. The creator of Duel Monsters was quite willing to accept such bizarre creatures without a second thought, though he could not help but wonder where Alexander had come from and why he looked like Alister. The thought crossed his mind that maybe Dartz had somehow created him to be an innocent lackey, but then he dismissed the idea. It did not make much sense. The creature's existence in general did not make sense.

Alexander tilted his head to the side, studying him and Seto for what seemed to be a very long time. Then suddenly he smiled. "Oh, I know!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "I'm supposed to feel neutral towards the both of you."

All eyes were upon him now. "Why, whatever do you mean?" Pegasus asked.

Seto simply frowned, wondering what sort of odd creature this was. All he did know was that it could not be a Duel Monster. There were not any cards that resembled this redhead. Actually, when he thought of it, the creature looked like Alister—too much like Alister. Seto found that he was actually disturbed. The thought of Alister ever acting so cheerful was about as unheard-of as Seto himself acting that way.

"Alister feels neutral towards both of you," Alexander proclaimed before Dartz could stop him. "And when he feels neutral, I do too. At least, that's the way it's supposed to be, I think. . . ." He bit his lip, still feeling confused from the prior events. Maybe he simply could not know what Alister was thinking and feeling any longer. And Raphael's words still puzzled him. Did he hate Alister's brother? The more he thought about it, the more he did not like the thought. He knew from Alister's memories that Miruko had been a sweet, innocent boy. And could he truly hate something that Alister loved so much? Could he even truly hate Raphael and Valon? He did know that he would do anything to keep them safe, so that Alister would be happy.

Dartz shook his head wearily. "That's enough, Alexander," he scolded. He could only imagine how Alexander was baffling the guests, and he was not in the mood to explain where the odd being had come from and why he had such strange concepts.

"He's really quite fascinating," Pegasus declared. "Is he a doppelganger? Do tell me, where did you find him?"

"Never mind that," Seto growled irritably. "Let's get down to business." He looked Dartz firmly in the eyes. "I want to know what you know about Doom Reborn and the revival of Paradius." His own eyes narrowed. "The residents of two different cities have all fallen comatose, and I'm sure all of us know the reason for that." Though Seto searched for a change in the Atlantean's expression, he found none.

"Yes," Dartz replied curtly, giving an odd glance to Pegasus. He had determined that Alexander was, indeed, a doppelganger of some kind, but he had to wonder why Pegasus had arrived at that conclusion.

"We were just going to go out and look for some clues in those cities," Alexander proclaimed with a nod. "I was going to teleport us there." He smiled, oblivious to the disapproving look Dartz was giving him. "I can teleport people around, but I can't ever take very many and I can't do it too much at once or I get tired." As a child would, he spoke about such things openly and saw no harm in it. Dartz, however, did not want Seto and Pegasus (or anyone, really) to know about this odd creature and his strange abilities and quirks. Alexander did not realize it, but most people in the world would not be ready to accept him. Dartz did realize this, however, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, some part of him wanted to protect the innocent being from the stinging rejections he would face. Alexander did not deserve to be treated cruelly.

"Could you take us along?" Pegasus asked. Both Seto and Dartz shot him deathglares. Pegasus shrugged. "Well, we have a right to know what's happening as well," he declared. "The last thing any of us wants is for Doom Reborn to gain power again."

Dartz turned away. "Feel free to take one of your private jets," he answered coldly. He was not in the mood to work with two of the people whose companies he had commandeered during Doom. And he did not want them interfering in what he was trying to do. They could investigate if they wished, but Dartz did not feel that he had to cooperate with them. It had been annoying enough when Marik Ishtar and Seto's younger brother had started poking into the matter and had ended up at the fire-damaged building where Doom Reborn had been temporarily operating. Dartz did not want to have to worry about anyone getting in the way. At least Alexander could be useful and tended to obey what Dartz told him.

"Oh, there's no need to be so cold," Pegasus said with a mock-pout. "We all have a common enemy, after all."

Seto grunted. "It's just fine with me if we don't go." He looked at Alexander. "How would we know that you would even get us to the right location with your so-called teleportation powers?" Not that he would say it aloud, but he definitely did not want to become trapped in a very different part of the world than intended, or even to end up in an alternate dimension, if such things existed. He did not have time for such nonsense.

"I can get there, if I know the location!" Alexander reassured him, but Seto was not impressed.

Dartz sighed to himself in frustration. "Is there anything else you want to know?" he asked dryly, turning back to face the unexpected guests.

"As a matter of fact, I _would_ like to know how it is that you're alive," Seto responded. "We were told that you'd been crushed to death when the Orichalcos temple collapsed." His blue eyes narrowed. "And, actually, you were supposed to have died long before that, when you gave up your own body in order to offer your soul to the Leviathan, or whatever it was that you were supposed to have done."

Before Dartz could answer, footsteps were heard and a soft voice said, "Seto?"

Everyone turned to look at Mokuba, who had previously been waiting in the limousine. Now he looked hesitant as he gazed up at Seto with worried blue-gray eyes.

"What is it?" Seto asked, frowning deeply. He knew that Mokuba would not have disobeyed him and left the vehicle if something important had not come up. And yet, what drastic news would Mokuba have gotten hold of? Calls rarely came to the limousine. Usually, if Seto was not in the office, the calls were redirected to his cellular phone.

"I got a really weird email from Leonhard," Mokuba replied then, still looking hesitant. He knew that Seto was not extremely pleased that Mokuba had formed a friendship with Siegfried von Schroider's younger brother, and he doubted that Siegfried was any more pleased.

But both Mokuba and Leonhard were tired of the unspoken feud between their elder brothers and wished that it would stop. They knew that the businessmen would never be friends. All they wished was that Seto and Siegfried could get along in a more civil manner, or even to form a business partnership. Leonhard was resigned to the fact that it would not ever happen, but Mokuba felt a certain determination to see that it did.

Seto grunted, walking over to a corner to the room with Mokuba to escape Pegasus's goggle-eyed interest in their conversation. "What did he say?" he wanted to know.

Mokuba swallowed. "He said that they're being attacked by Vikings and that two Valkyries are with him and Siegfried," he reported. "They have to get out of the von Schroider castle right away, and he said that they might end up here." He did not know what to make of it. The part about Valkyries he could understand, because of the Duel Monsters, but he was stumped on what Vikings had to do with anything. Where would they even come from? Vikings certainly did not exist any more—or at least, Mokuba had never thought that they did. They were supposed to have died out centuries before.

Seto stared. "What!" He frowned, wondering if it was some sort of joke or trick that Siegfried was pulling.

Mokuba shrugged helplessly. "That's what he wrote, and he seemed pretty upset," he said. "He wouldn't make it up, Seto!" He clenched his fists and sighed. "I'm worried about him. I tried to call him, and the operator said that the number wasn't working."

Seto growled, not pleased with any of this. "Well, if they're coming here, we'll find out soon enough," he said at last. He still wanted to go to the towns that had suffered the effects of the Orichalcos, but he imagined that he would not get to speak with Siegfried if he left now. This was quite an annoying addition to the list of odd things that had happened. Vikings and Valkyries? What was next? Would the warrior Sigurd himself appear and reenact the story told in Norse mythology that Wagner had adapted?

Realizing that Mokuba was looking off at something else, Seto turned to see his brother staring at Alexander in fascination and confusion. "What's that?" the child exclaimed.

"I'm an Alexander," the redhead answered proudly, then frowned. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here." He blinked at Mokuba, looking him up and down. By his logic, he was supposed to hate the younger Kaiba. But he did not know that he did. Why should he always feel the opposite of what Alister was feeling? Why could he not love what Alister loved? It had dawned on Alexander that he did not even understand why he had said that he had interests completely opposite to Alister's. Why would he, necessarily? Would they not share at least a few interests?

Mokuba continued to stare at the strange young man with mismatched wings, his blue-gray eyes revealing his amazement. "Okay," he said, not seeming to think about what he was actually saying. This was a bizarre creature, the likes of which he had never seen before. And he, like Seto, had noticed Alexander's resemblance to Alister. It seemed quite eerie to Mokuba.

Seto rolled his eyes, looking bored with the encounter. He turned to look back at Dartz. The Atlantean had not answered Seto's question, and the young businessman had a feeling that it was not going to happen. Dartz would keep his secrets. Seto determined that he would have to keep a close watch on the formerly insane man. He was a believer in the "keeping one's enemies close" policy, and after all, Dartz was about the worst enemy Seto had ended up having.

Dartz regarded Seto coldly. "If I'm not mistaken, your business is done here," he said.

"It looks like it is," Seto retorted, turning away.

Mokuba was happy to follow his brother out the door. Even if Dartz was not connected with Doom Reborn, the turquoise-haired man still made Mokuba nervous, and it seemed as though he was in a bad mood today. Mokuba did not especially want to have dealings with him.

* * *

Téa shut the door of the dance studio and sighed to herself, looking out at the dark Domino City night. There were some stars speckled throughout the sky, but it looked as though the slowly-moving clouds would soon obstruct them from view. The moon had a yellowish glow as the puffs circled around and in front of it, giving it a Halloweenish appearance. 

_I guess that makes sense, considering what's been happening to us lately,_ she thought ruefully to herself. It did not even feel like Christmastime, with all of the bizarre things that had been going on. Even now that everything had calmed down at least temporarily, nothing had returned to normal. They were all distraught over the events that had taken place at the Orichalcos temple, and Téa was especially worried about Yugi.

Over the months since their failure to save Duke, Téa had noticed the increasing bitterness and anger coming over her childhood friend. Yugi was usually so calm and kind and easy-going that this was a painful change to watch. She had a good idea of why Yugi was so upset, but he would never speak of it to her. He never spoke of the Orichalcos temple at all, and Téa was almost afraid to mention it to him for fear that this newfound anger would completely boil over.

_Oh Yugi . . . what's happening to you? What's happening to all of us?_ Téa brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, looking ahead with sadness in her blue eyes. If it had seemed as though their friendships with Tristan were being severed before finding that Duke had been reborn as a servant of the Orichalcos, it was all of their friendships with each other that were being strained now. Téa no longer knew if anything would be normal again. _We've come through so much together. . . . I don't want to see it end, especially not like this._ But she did not know how to stop it.

Her eyes narrowed. Perhaps the best thing she could do was to confront Yugi head-on about what was happening. It was not like her to simply allow a problem such as this to drag on. Why had she not done anything about it earlier? Was she that afraid that doing something would be worse than doing nothing?

This was a conflict that she had been having within herself for some time now, and still she was uncertain of how to proceed. Yugi had been pushing all of them away. Trying to speak with him about a subject that he did not want to talk about might only serve to be the final nail in the coffin. And on the other hand, perhaps it would be what would help Yugi to overcome the anger in his heart.

_Pharaoh, I wish you were here,_ Téa said silently. _You'd know what to do._

The screeching of tires at the upcoming corner made her snap back to the present. She stared in disbelief and confusion as a taxi cab swerved violently to the side. The back doors were thrust open and a turquoise-haired, armor-clad woman alighted. She yelled something in a language that sounded like German, and then Leonhard scrambled out as well. From the opposite side, Siegfried emerged carrying a limp, pink-haired woman wrapped in a fleece throw. The healthy woman and Siegfried both had torn clothes and seemed to be bleeding from various small wounds.

Intrigued and puzzled, Téa began to walk over to them. This was a bizarre turn of events. They acted as though they were trying to escape from something. But what?

"Leon!" she called out as she got closer. "What's going on?"

Immediately everyone looked up. The aqua-haired woman looked wary and suspicious, but Leonhard's eyes lit up in relief. He hurried over to Téa. "Dritte needs a place to rest!" he exclaimed, indicating the woman that Siegfried was holding. "We've been chased through Germany by Vikings, and we might've been followed here!" He swallowed, looking around nervously. "We came here because Armina . . . I mean, Schwertleite, hoped that Dritte could stay here to recover without anyone intruding." But he knew that if they had indeed been followed, it was not likely that they would have any peace.

Téa felt bowled over. "Vikings!" she repeated in bemusement. "But they don't exist anymore!" Surely it had to be some sort of prank. She did not remember any Duel Monsters cards that were Vikings, but of course she was not very familiar with the game. She supposed that such a card could have been released without her knowledge. Other than the Vikings being Duel Monsters characters or simply being the result of an elaborate trick, it did not seem possible for any to be around.

Leonhard shrugged helplessly. "I didn't think so either!" he answered. "But, please, do you know where we can take Dritte? She's hurt pretty badly. . . ." And he was afraid that his brother was hurt more than he would admit. Both Siegfried and Schwertleite had been injured when they had tried to escape from their pursuers. Leonhard had managed to avoid injury, and Siegfried had protected Dritte from being hurt worse.

Téa bit her lip. "We could take her to Kaiba's infirmary," she suggested slowly. "But why didn't you guys stay in the taxi cab?"

"Because," Siegfried explained calmly as he walked over to her, "the driver was working with our enemies. He had to be knocked unconscious before he caused damage, and that is when Leonhard happened to see you, Fraulein . . . Gardner, is it?"

Téa just nodded numbly. "Maybe I can call an ambulance for her," she said, pulling out her cellular phone. "I was just walking home from dance class. . . ." She reached to dial 911 when Schwertleite stepped in front of her and shook her head.

"She's already been examined by Master's doctor," the Valkyrie said firmly. "What she needs now is to have a quiet place where she can rest and not be disturbed. Besides, it would be easier for them to trace us to a hospital than a residence." She gripped her sword tightly, though she kept it at her side, and Téa felt herself grow a bit nervous.

Still, she knew that she could not leave them to try to figure things out for themselves. They had obviously been attacked by something, whether or not it was Vikings—though Téa supposed that stranger things had happened. She did not care if she put herself in danger by helping them, but she did worry about suggesting what she was contemplating in her mind. She did not want to put others in danger.

"If you could just make a suggestion of a place we could go," Schwertleite was saying now.

Siegfried shook his head. "Let's go to a hotel. I can register under a false name." He shifted Dritte carefully in his arms. The longer they stayed here on the sidewalk, the greater the chance was that they would be sitting ducks.

"They would check the hotels, Master," Schwertleite replied softly, "but they wouldn't expect you to have any friends here." She was firm and blunt as always, and did not apologize for her frankness. She knew that Siegfried did not have any friends. He did not believe that he could trust anyone to be a friend, especially not in the business world. However, their enemies might realize that Leonhard had made friends with Mokuba Kaiba, so going to the Kaiba Manor would be out of the question.

Siegfried smirked slightly. "Yes, I suppose you do have a point," he said.

Finally Téa spoke up, having determined what she would do. "Maybe she could stay at my place," she offered. She knew that her parents would want to help people in trouble if they possibly could, and hopefully her family would be obscure enough that these enemies would not think to look there.

Leonhard looked at her gratefully, but worry and doubt still shone in his hazel eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked. He knew that Téa would be putting herself and her family at possible risk by getting involved, and he did not want that. But if she could help, then it would definitely be welcomed. Perhaps Dritte could stay there while the rest of them went elsewhere and tried to sort out the mess. If they were not there and it was only the injured Valkyrie, then perhaps the danger would be minimized.

Téa nodded firmly. "I'm sure," she said. "My parents will be happy to help. There's not a whole lot of room, but you'll be welcome to have what there is." Quickly she dialed a number on her phone before anyone could protest. "I'll see if they can come pick us up." And even though her heart was in turmoil, she believed that she was doing the right thing.

* * *

Duke was dozing on the bed in his room. His mind wandered over many different things, mainly the events of the past few months. He saw himself being beaten again, and Yugi finding him. Then he had drifted away and the Orichalcos had taken control. . . . He hated to remember those times. He hated to realize what he had done. Surely it was unforgivable! He should have been able to overcome the poison, but he had not succeeded. It had destroyed him and ripped apart his friendships.

"And you're still corrupted," Duke heard his father's voice say as he moved into a state of partial awareness. "The Orichalcos tainted you, and you will never be the same again! Do you really think your 'friends' will take you back? You could have killed all of them!"

With a moan and a thump, the raven-haired boy tumbled out of bed and to the marble floor. His emerald eyes snapped open as he tried to take in the scene. He could feel that his heart was racing wildly. It had seemed so real. . . . And it had sounded as though his father had been right in the room with him.

"Are you alright?"

He started and looked up at the sound of the deep voice, finding himself gazing at Timaeus. "Yeah," he said slowly, pulling himself into a sitting position and letting out a shaking breath. "What's going on?"

Timaeus held out a hand to help Duke up. "It's time to go back to Domino City," he said quietly. From the tone of his voice and the grave look in his eyes, Duke got the feeling that something had happened that Timaeus might not tell him about. He accepted the assistance and slowly got up, turning to glance out the window. Nothing looked out of the ordinary from there. He looked back to the warrior.

"What's going on?" he demanded with a frown. "I know that you wouldn't just be deciding to go home out of the blue. Something bad must have happened!"

Timaeus shook his head. "We'll talk about it on the way there," he replied. "Come, we must hurry, or it will be too late." Without another word he turned and headed out of the room.

Flabbergasted, Duke was compelled to follow. He glared at the Atlantean, many mixed emotions crashing through his heart. Part of him was happy to finally be going back to Domino City. But his dream was still fresh in his mind, and he knew that it related to how he was feeling. Another part of him feared that he would not be welcomed back. They would have no reason to trust him. Though, he had never allowed himself to get extremely close to any of them. Perhaps he should not worry about whether they would receive him or not.

But if there was some new disaster that the Legendary Warriors were going to fix, Duke had to wonder how he would fit into the scheme of things. Would he be expected to help? Would he even be able to?

* * *

Valon turned the corner, letting the sound of his motorcycle's engine fill his ears. Alister had gotten up and had been painstakingly walking about the house, and the Australian had left to try to burn off his anger by riding his favorite vehicle. Seeing Alister stumble had made Valon again remember how helpless and outraged he had felt upon seeing Alexander repeatedly blasting the gray-eyed man. 

_I know Raph's mad too,_ he thought darkly to himself. _But I think he's more upset about seeing Dartz again. Oh, he's probably ticked at that winged thing, but seeing someone like Dartz turn up again makes him hit his boiling point. Hypocrite, he's always tellin' me I'm a hothead, but he can get that way too if the situation's right._

Valon was actually afraid of what Raphael might do if he met Dartz again. The Australian had seen his blonde friend angry before, but he was certain it would be nothing compared to the rage and hatred he would be capable of unleashing on someone like Dartz. Valon did not like Dartz either and would be quite happy to beat him up, but he knew that Raphael's pained feelings ran much deeper than Valon's.

_I kinda wonder about it, though,_ he mused as a snowflake fluttered past him. _I mean, look at what happened to Alister a while back. He pretty much turned against us, but Raph didn't hate him, and I didn't either. I guess the difference is that we knew Alister wasn't acting on his own free will and that he really does care about us. But with Dartz, when he betrayed us, we realized that he'd probably never really cared. He had us helping him and almost eating out of his hand, and then we found out that he'd been using us all along. I don't blame Raph for still hating the bloke._

But there was another aspect to everything that Valon had never spoken of, and tried to deny that he wondered about. What if part of the reason that Raphael's feelings of anger and hatred were so strong was because some part of him still did care about Dartz? It made sense to Valon, because after looking up to someone for so long and thinking of them as a father, one could not simply stop remembering those feelings after a stinging betrayal. He had to wonder if sometimes Raphael would remember how highly he had esteemed Dartz and wish that the man truly had cared about them.

He was abruptly thrown from his thoughts, quite literally, as his motorcycle hit something. He went tumbling off, rolling over a couple of times before ceasing.

It took him several moments to regain his bearings after that. At last his world stopped spinning and he was able to sit up, dizzily looking to the direction of his fallen motorcycle. To his stunned shock, he could not see anything there that it could have banged against.

"What in the . . ." he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

He blinked when he noticed the reflection of a green light on the motorcycle's paint. Quickly he cast his gaze upward and then gave a loud exclamation of disbelief.

An enormous Seal of Orichalcos seemed to be forming over the entire city!


	8. The Army

**Author's Note: Thanks to Chibi Cheesecake for catching a bad typo!

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven**

It was not long before the entire city was alerted to the fact that something absolutely bizarre was happening. Within moments the Seal was in place in the sky, its unseen barriers clamped tightly down over its victims. No one could get in or out. Buses and trains crashed at the city limits. Those out walking were violently thrown back. Animals began to bark and hiss. Immediately people began to panic, and complete chaos and pandemonium descended.

Valon was just in the process of struggling to get his motorcycle upright again and to ride off when a loud announcement echoed throughout the neighborhood. At first no one could determine where it was coming from, but then someone pointed out a blimp that was ambling across the sky just below the Seal of Orichalcos. Valon, however, could care less about where the speaker was. What mattered to him was what she was saying—and who she was.

"Greetings, fair citizens of Domino!" came Vivalene's syrupy, aristocratic tones. After squinting for a moment, Valon could make out her form standing on a platform of the blimp. She was holding onto a railing with one hand and a megaphone with the other. And the Australian cursed low.

He remembered Vivalene now, and the trouble she had caused him in the past. Perhaps it was terrible, but he had hoped that she was dead in the crushed Orichalcos temple and that she would not be able to bother him and his friends any more. She obviously was causing trouble now, and Valon knew that they would all be involved with it. Most likely they would all lose their souls before long. Or maybe that was Raphael's pessimism rubbing off on him.

"I'm certain that all of you are wondering about this delightful little symbol in the sky," the redhead continued now, her shoulder-length hair blowing about in the breeze. "But you see, the explanation is really quite simple, especially if you've been watching the news. The fact is, you're all about to be offered to the great Leviathan to assist it in rising once again." She gave a mock pout as the cries of indignation and confusion rose to meet her ears. "Oh, you don't like that? Too bad."

Valon clenched a fist. There had to be something more going on here, he decided. Why was Vivalene allowing herself to be in the city? Would the Seal not take her soul as well? Valon doubted that Vivalene was ready to offer herself to the Leviathan; indeed, he felt sure that she could not care less about reviving the beast. All she wanted was the power, and what disturbed Valon the most was that he had been the same way when he had been part of Doom. They had wanted different kinds of power, but in the end all of it still was power. He had wanted to be physically stronger, and Vivalene wanted the prestige and importance and wealth of a leadership position.

The treacherous woman laughed now. "There is only one way to stop this," she announced, "and I know that if he isn't watching, someone who knows him must be." She smirked, gazing down at the people. Was that Valon she could see? Yes, she would recognize his wild hair anywhere. His presence only made things more interesting, for of course she knew that he would fight tooth and nail to keep himself and his friends from falling prey to the Seal's powers. "I want the man named Dartz to find our secret location and come speak with us. But he only has until sunrise!" Vivalene's amusement only increased as she saw the people exchanging confused looks. They had no idea who she was speaking about. Well, most of them did not know, anyway.

Valon felt frustrated. "What do you wanna talk to him for?" he demanded now, ignoring the way that everyone was staring at him. He supposed that they were wondering how he knew this strange woman, and who Dartz was. He could only hope that he would not be bombarded with questions, because he did not have the time or the patience to bother answering them.

Vivalene smirked. "Oh, just about a business deal," she replied. "And now the very leader of Doom Reborn wants to speak with him." She pointed her megaphone at Valon for emphasis. "That's very significant, you know! Not even anyone in the organization has seen her! That includes me, and I'm her top operative."

Valon frankly did not care how significant it was. What he cared about was what would happen if Dartz met up with those people. Would they try to get him to join with them? Surely that must be what they wanted. And Valon would not be surprised if Dartz agreed. He did not, and could not, trust the former leader of Doom. Most certainly he did not want to entrust all of their fates to that man. He would find a way to stop Doom Reborn himself.

"Dartz'll probably join up with you!" the Australian snapped now. "That's not gonna help us here!" He climbed on his motorcycle and reached to pull his goggles down. He had not been wearing his helmet tonight, which he knew would make Raphael upset when he learned of it, but he had other things to worry about now.

"Just find him for me and we'll see, darling," Vivalene called as she pulled herself back inside the blimp. "And remember, you don't have much time."

Valon glared after her, clenching a fist. Then he revved his motorcycle and rode off, while the crowd stared after him—trying to determine who he was, who Dartz was, and what exactly was happening to their city.

* * *

Siegfried pulled back the thin curtain in the guest room where Dritte had been laid. He did not intend to stay here, as it would most likely only add to the danger, but the sight of the green light upon the curtain had both intrigued and annoyed him enough that he wanted to see what was happening outside. He had expected to only see one of the glowing beams, but instead he was met with the sight of a portion of the humongous Seal of Orichalcos. His eyes narrowed. What on earth was going on? Had their enemies constructed such a thing to keep them imprisoned? Or was this part of a much larger problem? He did have to wonder if all of the strange troubles were connected somehow. After all, he did remember hearing the news stories about what had occurred in Europe and Asia. 

He heard a gasp behind him and turned to see Téa standing there, staring in alarm at the Orichalcos out the window.

"What's going on?" she exclaimed, her blue eyes wide. "Oh my gosh. . . . The Seal must be over the entire city!" She only vaguely remembered hearing about the disasters in Germany and Japan—as some of the other dance students had whispered about it right before it had been time to begin practice—but she had heard enough to realize that the same thing must now be happening here.

Suddenly she was overwhelmed by a barrage of alarmed thoughts. Were they all going to lose their souls? How would Yugi react? She had to find him before he did something drastic! This was exactly the sort of catastrophe that he had been hoping to prevent, and once he knew of it, he would be endlessly determined to find a way to stop it. Of course, that was normal for him, but in his current state it was quite a worry. Téa was certain that he would end up doing something rash because of being driven by his anger, pain, and self-hatred.

Siegfried frowned deeply, turning away from the window and letting the curtain fall back into place. Within the Seal, there was not any place that was safe. He and the others must have walked directly into a trap. This disgusted him. Once again he had failed when he should have made certain that he would not. He clenched a fist and walked past Téa, speaking to her quietly as he did.

"Thank you for allowing Dritte to stay here." He gave Téa a sideways glance as she blinked and looked up at him. "I will leave so as to hopefully lesson the chance of attack, but when all of this is over you will be compensated for your help." He was a businessman, and often thought as one would. Since he was quite unused to anyone being genuinely kind other than his brother, he was very unsure of how to respond to such actions.

Téa frowned. "I wanted to help," she answered, "and so did my parents. It's not like we did this because we wanted some kind of a reward." She was not certain what to make of the pink-haired tycoon. He often still seemed to be obnoxious, as he had during the Grand Prix, but he seemed to honestly care about his brother—and about the Valkyries. Obviously he was not all bad, though at times it almost seemed as if he was trying to make himself unlikable. If that was true, Téa wondered why it would be.

Siegfried merely smiled. "If possible, I will try to keep in touch," he said, heading out the door.

Téa frowned, staring after him curiously. Then, after looking back to Dritte, she left the room as well. She would have to see if her mother could watch over the injured Valkyrie for the time being, even though she had said she would take the first shift. Getting to Yugi was her top priority now.

* * *

At the game shop, Yugi most certainly had noticed the monstrous Seal of Orichalcos in the sky—having seen it from the skylight in his bedroom. At first he had not been able to believe it. Then he had been horrified. And now he was angry. He had known all along that Doom Reborn would strike again, but he had never dreamed that it would be like this. It seemed impossible, to think of the Seal being able to grow to such enormous proportions—and outside of a duel, at that! How was it even possible? 

Furious, he had ran outside to get a better look. And that was when he heard Vivalene's loud and mocking announcement to the citizens of Domino. In anger he clenched his fists. They most certainly would not be fed to the Leviathan! The Pharaoh would never let it happen, and Yugi would not, either. Dartz was the key, Vivalene claimed, and Yugi would find him somehow. He would worry later about how Dartz was alive. Right now he needed the man's help.

As he dashed around a corner, he nearly collided head-on with a motorcycle. Yelping, the driver swerved sharply to the left and nearly toppled over before righting himself, glaring at the boy as he did so.

Yugi felt a burst of guilt for almost causing someone else's misfortune. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, his violet eyes widening. "Are you alright?" Then he gasped upon realizing that he knew the biker. "Valon!" he cried.

The Australian continued to give him an irked look. "Yeah, it's me," he replied, "and I'm fine. But you almost caused me to wipe out for the second time tonight!" He leaned over the handlebars, pushing the goggles up on his forehead. It was not that much of a surprise to see Yugi, he supposed. By now Valon had driven back into the center of the city, and he realized suddenly that he was very close to where the Turtle Game Shop was located.

He sighed. "So . . . I guess you saw what's in the sky, too, huh?"

Yugi nodded. "Vivalene said that she wants Dartz," he said, "so I have to find him for her! She acts like she's sure he must be in the city somewhere, or else why would she have closed it off and then asked for us to find him?" After all, none of them could leave the city's perimeters now, and if Dartz was outside, he would not be able to get in—unless, of course, the secret base was not in Domino. But even so, there was the matter of Vivalene trapping herself in the city. Yugi doubted, as did Valon, that she would do that if there was not a way for her to escape having her soul taken.

"That's what I figure," Valon agreed, remembering how Dartz had actually been in their home earlier that day. He narrowed his eyes, wondering where Alexander had taken him to after he had teleported them out. _Heh, _he thought to himself, _I guess now I wouldn't mind that thing being around, if he'd just be here long enough for me to ask him where Dartz is._

"Well," Yugi suggested slowly, "maybe we could look for him together." He was not sure how receptive Valon would be to that idea, but Yugi hoped that things would go faster if they did not search separately. After all, it would undoubtedly be easier to get around on Valon's motorcycle as opposed to just walking around the city.

Valon shrugged again. "Sure," he said, pulling his goggles down and tossing the spare helmet to Yugi. Briefly he had the thought that he should have been wearing it himself, since the main helmet was at home in the garage, but then he decided not to worry about it. They had bigger problems, and he was sure that he would be alright. "Might as well. Just tell me if you see a crazy redheaded bloke with a couple of wings."

Yugi accepted the helmet and put it on, but blinked at this remark. "Um, okay," he agreed slowly, wondering what that had to do with Dartz.

* * *

The wanted man, meanwhile, was already heading into the city. After seeing the Seal go up, and hearing Vivalene's announcement over the news, he had immediately gone outside and ordered Seto's chauffeur to take him into town—right as they had been about to drive off. Seto had been indignant, and the chauffeur confused, but finally they had come to the agreement that they would all go downtown. Dartz had wanted Chris and Ironheart to stay behind, but they were insistent on coming as well. 

Alexander shifted uncomfortably in the limousine, turning from first one side to the other. Briefly he tried to sit the way he was supposed to, but he soon grimaced and started to move about again.

Seto frowned, raising an eyebrow at the strange creature before looking to Dartz. "Does your friend have a problem with the seating arrangement?" he asked dryly. Not that he really cared, but after a while it did get somewhat annoying to watch Alexander's shifting. Mokuba was staring too, and Seto could see that Pegasus was interested. The young businessman rolled his eyes.

Dartz grunted. "No," he answered flatly. He had seen Alexander carry on in that way before, whenever the being was required to sit on some kind of couch or chair, and he had come to learn that Alexander simply was not comfortable if he could not spread out his wings. Keeping them folded on his back made him nervous and caused him to desperately shift about, trying to find a position that would allow him to unfurl them at least partially. Dartz supposed it was some sort of psychological after-effect of being trapped by the Orichalcos for so long.

"Do tell me," Pegasus exclaimed as the vehicle made its way down from the Domino Canyons, "how do you plan to find Doom Reborn's secret base? You really don't have all that much time until sunrise, and I can't say I'm looking forward to ending up in one of the Leviathan's bubbles again." He gave a mock pout and stared at Dartz, wanting an answer. Everything that was happening was so incredibly bizarre, and Pegasus wondered how they were ever going to get out of this mess. It seemed to him that it would not be very simple, even for Dartz. After all, Doom Reborn had been operating for ages and the Atlantean had not been able to stop them.

Dartz was about to give some sort of snide and clipped retort when the limousine abruptly swerved to the side and nearly went off the road into the gorge on the other side. Immediately the occupants were tossed against the insides of the doors and against each other. Alexander yelped, finally managing to spread his wings out of startled reflex, and the window next to him was then covered by his leathery demon appendage, while his angel wing went along the length of the back windshield.

It took a long moment for everyone to recover. At last Mokuba looked up, his raven hair going in all directions, and stared in disbelief. "What happened?" he demanded, glaring up at the front of the automobile. It was when he took on commanding airs that Seto would be quietly amused, while at the same time thinking that Mokuba would definitely be able to run KaibaCorp if the need ever arose. Though, since he would have to be dead first, he hoped that the need would not arise.

"I . . . I don't know," came the stammering answer from the chauffeur. "These strange men just jumped right in the way and . . ."

He trailed off as the men stepped into view and surrounded the limo. Everyone gawked at them. With their armor and their horned helmets, they looked like Vikings.

* * *

Raphael sighed to himself as he watched Alister limp back into the living room from the kitchen. The redhead was obviously restless, not wanting to lay down even though he knew he should, and they were both wondering when Valon was going to return. He had been gone ever since before the Seal had gone up, and Raphael was certain that he was not the only one of the two who believed that Valon just might have gone and done something rash in his anger over the situation. 

It was definitely something to be angry about. The entire city had been trapped against its will, its inhabitants helpless to do anything against the Doom Reborn organization that was causing this. Raphael clenched a fist, turning to look out the window. The glow from the Seal was reflected on everyone's windows, and it made for an eerie mixture with the Christmas lights that were on up and down the street.

"We should be able to do something," Alister said flatly, coming over to the window. He probed the sight with his dark gaze, but did not seem to find anything of value to continue looking at. He turned away, the frustration obvious in his gray eyes.

Raphael growled. "We don't even know where they're hiding out," he retorted pessimistically. "It probably wouldn't be the same place they were in before. From what Mokuba said, it was almost falling apart then. They'd have to be idiots to chance it again." And he did not think they were idiots, at least not in that respect. They would have to have some level of intelligence to be able to come up with their devastating plans.

Alister grunted. "So we have to sit around and do nothing while everyone loses their souls?" He clenched a fist tightly, and Raphael could see that he was dangerously close to drawing blood. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept that." His red hair fell across his face as he looked down at his hand. "I've failed before. I'm not going to fail again." Whether or not Raphael agreed, Alister intended to go out and try to find some answers for what was going on. He could try to find Alexander, and Alexander could take him to Dartz, but what Alister truly wanted was to look for Doom Reborn's hideout. He was certain that there were clues to it somewhere, as there had been concerning the previous location.

Raphael looked at his friend compassionately before reaching to lay a hand on his shoulder. He understood Alister's feelings, and he felt the same. He was not going to sit back and just allow this to happen. Failure was not an option. "Let's go," he said quietly. "We don't have much time, and there's a lot of area to cover." He knew Alister would never agree to stay home. He was like Valon in that respect.

Alister started briefly at the contact and then gratefully looked back up at Raphael. He nodded and headed for the door, grabbing up his black coat in the process. He paused when Raphael spoke again.

"We're taking the car," the blonde said gruffly. "You're in no condition to ride a motorcycle, and you know it."

Alister grunted in reply, which Raphael had to assume was as good as an Okay. Then he walked out through the door and Raphael followed, after giving Liu a gentle petting. They would return, after stopping Doom Reborn. Raphael had to believe that.

* * *

Dartz glared coldly at the warriors that were surrounding the vehicle. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. He knew that these were not people attempting to imitate Vikings, but instead the real thing. In his travels throughout the ages, he had found his way to Scandinavia and had spent time there, learning about the land, the culture, and the people. And he recognized the armor of the Norsemen. He did not quite understand how it was possible for Vikings to be here in this day and age, though he wondered if the explanation was merely that these were descendants of the originals and that they had been living secretly for many years. 

The one who seemed to be the leader came forward, glaring at the limousine as if he wished to break it apart with his gaze. "We've come to collect the Egyptian Millennium Items that we have heard so many legends about," he declared boldly in accented English. Dartz noticed that his sword was made of gleaming silver.

Seto growled. "There aren't any," he said harshly, noticing that the warriors were all staring at him. "They fell into a pit in the ground over in Egypt." And he, frankly, was glad of it. He was tired of his entire life revolving around those blasted items. Of course, now that they were gone, other magical properties seemed to have taken their place. And that only made Seto even more disgusted. He wondered if his life would now always be about magic. That was what he wanted to escape from. He did not believe that he had once been the priest Seto, in the Pharaoh's court. He was Seto Kaiba, and only Seto Kaiba, and anyone who believed otherwise was a fool.

"Oh, they did, did they?" The leader gave Seto a frosty look before turning back to Dartz. "We have already heard about that," he said firmly, "but we plan to resurrect them, O Golden-Eyed Wanderer." He smirked through his beard, seeing Dartz's momentarily startled expression. The legend of Dartz's visit to Scandinavia had been passed down through the generations, as they had never seen anyone like him before, or since. The Norse people had been fascinated by him, though of course they never knew the full story behind his enigmatic presence.

Chris blinked in confusion. "What's going on?" she wanted to know. She did not like the way that the men were looking at her father, nor did she care for the statement that their captain had made. In order to create the Millennium Items, there would need to be ninety-nine sacrifices. It was an abominable and wicked ritual, and one that should never have to be repeated.

Dartz laid a hand on her shoulder before looking up at the bearded man. "They're better left destroyed," he said coldly. "But how do you know that I am this 'Golden-Eyed Wanderer' that you speak of?" If the Vikings did, indeed, try to create new Millennium Items, Dartz knew that they would have to be stopped. And such a battle was something that he was most definitely not looking forward to. There were already enough problems!

Another Viking, one shorter but not stout, spoke up. "The legend talks about one with golden eyes and long, turquoise hair who visited our lands. You fit the description, and no one else we've seen does." Dartz could see that around his neck was a silver medallion, upon which an unfamiliar symbol was carved. Frowning, he remembered that the same symbol was on the captain's sword.

Ironheart had noticed too. "What does that symbol mean?" he asked of the short man. Somehow he had the feeling that it was not merely something from the Viking culture that they placed on many of their artifacts. It seemed . . . ominous.

Mokuba felt a shiver go up his spine, and unconsciously he moved a bit closer to Seto. He did not like this at all, and he did not understand, either. Why had they stopped the limousine, if what they wanted was to create new Millennium Items? Did they intend to offer up everyone inside to help meet the sacrifice quota? He gripped his brother's sleeve tightly, wishing that he did not feel so nervous.

"That," proclaimed the captain, showing off his sword, "is the symbol of our own magical items." He sneered. "You didn't truly believe that Egypt was the only land to make them, did you?" The silver sword glimmered in the moonlight and from the light of the Seal.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Various thoughts were running through their minds—alarm, confusion, horror. . . . The thought that other countries had magical items seemed too terrible to be real. And yet, it did make sense.

Dartz, however, did not have the same emotions as most of the others did. He had already known that the other lands had possessed magic artifacts of their own. He did not know if they had been created in the same way as the Millennium Items, but if so, he did know that they would be instruments of evil. And he had been certain that the other countries would rise up to use the items one day, if there were those who remembered about them. He doubted that most people believed in such things, in any land.

Pegasus did not seem all that surprised, either. And he was not. After losing Cecelia, and he had begun his lonely research that had led him to Egypt, he had also found ancient texts from other countries that had seemed to indicate that there were other magical items in the world. But he had never gotten around to collecting them because he had wanted to get the Millennium Items first—and that plan had failed.

Seto's lip curled in annoyance. "Well, isn't that just wonderful for you," he snapped. "Now how about leaving us alone? The maniacs in the city want to talk to your 'Golden-Eyed Wanderer' or else they'll take everyone's souls, including your own." He could tell that Mokuba was upset by the visit and he absently laid a hand on his brother's head.

All the Vikings laughed heartily at this remark. Alexander tilted his head to the side, baffled, and looked at Dartz. The Atlantean frowned deeply, not certain what the joke was. Seto was further annoyed. Mokuba grew more nervous. Chris and Ironheart sat tensely, waiting for the explanation. And Pegasus crossed his arms. Not even he looked amused.

At last the leader managed to calm down enough to look at the others. He sneered wickedly and his eyes gleamed. "Oh, I think we'll be perfectly safe," he replied. "After all, we're part of Doom Reborn's army."

Seto slumped back against the back of the seat, frustration obvious in his eyes. "I should have known," he muttered.


End file.
